Pokémon: The PAL Chronicles
by BookPrincess32
Summary: Ash has been hurt to hear what they really thought of him. Out of anger, he accidentally activated his aura that teleported him to an entirely new region: PAL. Four Years later, he became the Champion and is invited to a tournament with his own Elites. His life makes a turnaround from there and he must solve the mysteries that are putting everyone in danger, before it's too late.
1. The PAL Elite Four and its Champion

**BP: I've read plenty of betrayal fics from Pokémon, so I'd thought I'd try one too. I thought since I wrote one for Prince Of Tennis, why not write one for Pokémon too?**

**Warning: Hunter x Hunter reference, Hunger Games references, I also didn't include the Kalos characters because I don't know them very well. Most information posted is taken from Bulbapedia. So Kalos doesn't exist in this fic.**

**Shout out to mysterypink98, my real life best friend, for helping me out!**

Have you guys ever heard of the PAL region?

PAL stand for Pokémon Awakens Love. It's a region that supports all five regions known to the Pokémon World. The general environment a paradise for Pokémon; hence the name. If a trainer is caught abusing Pokémon within this region, it's an immediate death sentence, as PAL takes the welfare of Pokémon, whether wild or trainer, very seriously.

With this in mind, pollution is also considered a crime here. If you are caught tainting the environment in anyway, you'll be sent to jail.

Trainers are expected to do everything they can to protect their own Pokémon, which is why all the trainers living in PAL know how to fight in one way or another without their Pokémon. PAL contains all the Pokémon in the six regions, and also, sometimes, even Legandaries flock here to relax in this paradise.

Let's not forget those that protect the PAL. Officer Jennies around the region are nothing compared to them. They are called "Hunters", people that have proven themselves through rigorous examination to be an elite member of humanity. If you can pass the Hunter Exam, or "Exam from Hell" as PAL people may call it (since out of 1,200 applicants, only about 10 pass and get their license, and some actually died in the Exam), you have many benefits, such as 95% of all public facilities can be used at no cost. Furthermore, all such services are provided at first class, unrivalled freedom to travel around the regions, almost no legal responsibility for murder, and so much more.

Most people from the G-Men members are actually Hunters provided by PAL Government herself, which is why they are considered formidable.

As for contests, instead of winning five Ribbons and participating in the Grand Festival for the Ribbon Cup, there are two types of contests: Normal and Super. Normal contests are also split into five categories: Cool, Beauty, Smart, Tough and Cute. There are also four ranks: Normal, Super, Hyper and Master.

As for Super Contests, It is also split into the five categories like the normal contests, but the rankings are as follows: Normal, Great, Ultra and Master. You need to win ribbons from Normal rank from a certain category in order to enter the next rank's contest in the same category. To be a Top Coordinator, once needs to win Master Rank in at least one category for either contest type. (A/N: It's just like in the games. Since Hoenn and Sinnoh didn't have anything like that in the anime, I figured I put both here in this region, since it's considered special)

It's also the most difficult region to be a Champion as the Elite Four of the PAL is also something else altogether. The PAL Elite Four is well-known to have the only members that specialize in two types instead of just one. Each member of the Elite Four are also Hunters and has unique abilities that make the stand out among the other trainers. No one could even get past the first member of the Elite Four.

Only one person has managed to defeat all four members and be crowned Champion.

And that is Ashura Red Satoshi Ketchum, better known as Ash Ketchum.

Said 19 year old boy was currently sitting at the rooftop of the PAL Plateau; home to the PAL Elite Four and its Champion. With him was a certain Pikachu, sitting on his shoulder and trying to comfort him by nuzzling his cheek and licking it as well. Ash smiled a little and patted his Pikachu, who let out a coo of contentment.

A Lucario was with him as well, sitting next to him, silently giving his support.

"**Beautiful night, isn't it, Master?"** Lucario tried to break the silence by making small talk.

"Yeah." Ash nodded.

Lucario frowned. **"Don't tell me you're still thinking about the incident four years ago."**

Ash frowned, as he thought back on the events four years ago.

_Ash was on his way home to Pallet Town, with his famous Pikachu after the Unova League. He made it to the Final Eight, but got knocked out by Cameron's Lucario._

_"Can't wait to see mum! Right Pikachu?" He asked his long-time partner and best friend._

_"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu replied happily._

_Ash smiled at Pikachu, as his house was in sight. He was about to open the door to announce his presence, when he heard voices. He furrowed his brow in confusion, as he recognized those voices._

_Brock Slate, former gym leader of Pewter City, Misty Waterflower, Cerulean City Gym Leader, May Maple, a Pokémon Co-ordinator from Hoenn, Max Maple, younger brother of May, Dawn Berlitz, Co-ordinator of Sinnoh and daughter of Johanna Berlitz, a former Top Co-ordinator, Iris, a girl who dreamed to be a Dragon Master someday, Cilan, one of the three Gym Leaders in the Striaton Gym and A-Class Connoisseur. His mother was in as well. Wait, was that Trip's voice? Why would he be here as well?_

_'Now why would they all be here at this moment?' Ash thought. They were supposed to be off on their own journey chasing their own dreams, not be in Pallet Town discussing whatever it is. He crept closer to listen to their conversation._

_He immediately wished he hadn't done that._

_"Seriously? He got into the Top Eight again?" Misty sneered. "He just wouldn't accept that he would never be the top, would he?"_

_"I agree. He's always using that rat during the battles that led to his loss." Brock said. "I mean to him, friendships are more important than power."_

_"Well, he's an idiot if he can win by just pure friendship." Iris said scathingly. "He doesn't know you have to have power as well!"_

_"He was a complete idiot to use Pikachu against powerhouses like that Latios in the Sinnoh League, although he did defeat that Latios." Dawn added in. "No wonder he lost all the Leagues he participated."_

_"Well, I agree, and he's my son. Should we just tell him to give up?" His mother sighed._

_"Yeah, he'll always be that little kid who would never win against any of us." Iris said. "Perhaps, Mrs. Ketchum, he might stay home with you, which is what you want right?"_

_"He's always out chasing a dream that is impossible to fulfil. I want him home for once." said Mrs. Ketchum._

_"So, when he gets home, let's tell him to give up on his dreams!" Trip said. The others made noises of agreement._

_Although by this time, Ash is shaking in sadness, betrayal, anger and hurt, he still held back Pikachu as it wanted to just charge in and electrocute them on the spot for saying things like that to his best friend._

_**"Let me at them, Ash!"**__ Pikachu hissed. __**"I want to make them suffer for what they said."**_

_Ash gave a strange smile on his lips, although his tears have made its appearance. He didn't notice he could suddenly understand Pikachu. "I think I got a better idea." He turned and ran to Professor Oak's laboratory, clutching to a struggling Pikachu tightly to make sure he doesn't do anything rash._

_"Ash, my boy! How have you…" he trailed off in shock as he saw the look on Ash's face and the angry Pikachu._

_"Ash, are you alright?" Gary asked from behind Professor Oak. Tracey nodded his concern_

_Ash told the Oaks and Tracey everything he heard, and they were shocked. Tracey even dropped his sketchbook in shock._

_"How could they?" Tracey hissed. "How could they say such a thing?"_

_Ash grimaced. "I know. That's why I'm going to get away and train- by myself with all my Pokémon."_

_Professor Oak smiled. "I'll arrange that."_

_He took out what looked like a plain old watch. "It may look like a watch, but it has unlimited functions. It can call people, send messages, gives you information of any Pokémon that is scanned from all regions, gives you a map of where you are and how to get to your desired destination, it also has a list of moves the Pokémon you scan can learn, and also allows you to carry all your Pokémon at once. It's called the CommuniDex. Once you put it on, it's keyed to your DNA so only you can take it off. Not even someone disguised as you would be able to take it off. Also, it is waterproof so you can keep it on at all times even when you shower."_

_"Thanks, Professor Oak." Ash gave a small smile._

_"Ash, you have no idea what you are capable of." said Gary. "Go, and make sure to come back and show us what you're made of." This is one of the rare times he didn't say "Ashy-boy"._

_Tracey smiled. "Yes, I know you can do it."_

_Ash smiled, took all his Pokémon and left the lab._

_He took out a fish lure bait given by Misty and one half of the Terracotta Ribbon won at a contest with May._

_"I'm never going back. The past is the past." Ash declared, throwing the bait towards one side, and the Ribbon towards another._

_During his anger, he did not know that his aura was accumulating, and it chose now to activate._

_He unknowingly teleported, and landed in an unknown place._

This place was later known as the region PAL.

**"Master….MASTER!"** Lucario hit Ash over the head. Ash could understand what his Pokémon is saying even without telepathy as he had mastered how to use aura during those three years. It's also useful in combat. However, this isn't unusual, as all Elite members knew how to use aura and understand Pokéspeech.

"Oww…what?" he groaned.

**"You're spacing out again."** Lucario said. He looked up to see Pikachu frowning at him as well.

**"You know, Ash, if you're thinking about the betrayal, at least some of their Pokémon didn't agree and abandoned their masters just for you. As well as the Legendries that followed you on your quest."** Pikachu reminded him. **"Not to mention our old friends somehow managed to find us here, and agreed to join back here with us."**

He remembered that dream. It was just right after one of his Elite members found him and took him in.

_"Where am I?" Ash asked, looking around at what looked like a royal ballroom with its lavish decorations._

_"Welcome, Chosen One." said a voice. He turned to see a white equine resembling a centaur with a grey, vertically-striated underside. The striated pattern has similar recurrences on the underside of its mane, tail, and face. Its four pointed feet are tipped with gold hooves._

_"Arceus!" He cried out._

_Arceus smiled. "Yes, Chosen One." One by one, the other Legendries appeared before him. The Legendary Bird trio, the Mew duo, the Legendary Beasts trio, the Tower Duo, Celebi, the four Regis, the Eon duo, the Weather Trio, Jirachi, Deoxys, the Lake Guardians, the Creation Trio, the Lunar Duo, Manaphy, Heatran, Shaymin, Victini, the Swords of Justice, the Forces of Nature, the Tao Trio, Meloetta, Genesect, Mortality Duo, Zygarde, and finally, Diancie._

_"Hi, Ash!" Latias flew over to him, and nuzzled him. Too bad Shaymin, Meloetta, Victini, Manaphy, Celebi and Mew had the same idea, and tackled him to the floor hugging him._

_"Hi, Ash!" they chirped in unison. "Long time no see!"_

_"Hey, you guys." Ash smiled at them. "What's going on?"_

_"We've been watching you." said Darkrai. "After the betrayal by your friends, we decided it's time for us to step in to help, to thank you for what you have done for us."_

_"Saving us selflessly, putting your lives just for us…" Shaymin said._

_Meloetta nodded. "Which is why we have decided to thank you for what you done. All of us. We have decided to support you in whatever you decide to do."_

_"After seeing what your so-called friends did, we think it' the least we could do." said Mewtwo._

_"Some of us have decided to join you in your quest, Ash." said Mew. "To thank you for all you have done."_

_"What?" Ash exclaimed. "But if you join up with me, it's dangerous. Who knows what those villainous teams such as Team Rocket would do if they find out you are with me? It sounds great and all, but you have duties to do, and I don't want it to be interrupted just for me. And you might have to participate in battles if you join with me. And I'm not going to let those villainous teams get their hands on you a second time!"_

_The Legendries were astounded, as they knew he was really and truly trying to protect them from unwanted attention and forced control._

_"We understand, Chosen One." said Rayquaza. "But we want to travel the world, and who better than with you?"_

_"Since you treat Pokémon as friends, and you did us an amazing favour for all of us." said Celebi._

_"Yeah, since you revived me from the Soul Dew using your aura, it has been absorbed in your body so it doesn't need guarding anymore." Latios finally spoke up._

_"I even told Bianca and Lorenzo I'm going with you to see the world, and they agreed." said Latias._

_"I even called your old Pokémon so that they'll come back to you." said Darkrai._

_Ash knew he lost the battle, seeing he saw what the Pokémon were willing to do to follow him._

_"For those who want to come, you can come, but I can't promise a pain-free journey, but I promise, I will do my best to protect all of you, and make sure I'll prove to everyone I'm a good trainer, and take responsibilities for my actions." He smiled at them. The Legendries cheered at this._

_"Then, the ones joining you will be Victini, Manaphy, Mew, Mewtwo Lugia, Ho-oh, Shaymin, Meloetta, Latias and Latios, Darkrai, Zekrom, Celebi, Jirachi, Giratina, Palkia and finally, Dialga." said Arceus. "You'll find their Pokeballs at your bedside once you wake up, along with your old friends."_

_"Remember, Ash, we'll always be looking out for you."_

Ash was snapped out of his reverie when Pikachu nudged him, and pointed to his Pidgeot carrying a mail addressed to him.

"Ah…Opps." He took the letter and read it.

_Dear Red Satoshi,_

_There is a tournament coming up called the Pokémon World Championship. It is held in the PAL Battle Arena to decide who the best among the best is, and I believe you are more than capable of winning the tournament. Your invitation has been attached to this message. Please hand your invitation in three days' time to the PAL Pokémon Centre near the Battle Arena if you wish to participate._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Phlox DeLaurentis_

_Manager of the PAL Elite Four_

_P.S: Glad to know you're still alive, Ash. You were incredibly hard to track down. Congrats on being the PAL Champion, and hope to see you there. By the way, all your so-called friends are there so stay calm and don't give in to your hate –Scott._

_P.P.S: You better show up to the tournament or else I'm going to sic my men on you, and drag you there. You must participate in this tournament. Don't let those traitors get to you. –Charles Goodshow._

_P.P.P.S: You better arrive by tomorrow morning. You and your Elite are going to organize the opening ceremonies. I'll drag you there myself with Charles if you don't show up. –Phlox._

Lucario, who has been looking over his shoulder to read the letter, broke the silence by asking, "So are you going?" he asked.

Ash nodded. "Of course! But first…" He sent a print message to his four Elites via his CommuniDex, who were out doing god-knows-what.

* * *

"Nothing like a late night swim to take my mind off things." A boy with black hair and amber eyes commented. He dived off the dive board that is 10 meters above the swimming pool, and somersaulted into the pool, executing a beautiful jack-knife.

This is Jude Harrison, a Water/Dark Specialist, and the first member of the Elite. He is a Sea Hunter, whose job is to hunt in seas for animals and treasures. He is the best at swimming among the four of them. He is currently wearing swimming trunks.

Just as he swam up to the surface, his CommuniDex rang, signalling a new message. Jude groaned, and pressed a button to read the message. He widened his eyes at the message.

"Change of plans. I'm going back to the Plateau." He told himself, as he dried himself, got dressed in his standard outfit which consists of blue shirt with black jacket and a black jeans and called out his Mantine. "Mantine, we're going back to the Plateau." Mantine nodded, and they shot off towards the Plateau.

* * *

A girl with black hair with hot pink highlights, black eyes as dark as midnight, and wearing her usual outfit- red top with a magenta jacket and a white and pink skirt, with hot pink boots was trying to crack a mysterious case where two boys went missing, and their backpacks and Pokémon were left behind. She spun her pen, and crossed out another locations where she had searched earlier today.

She is Rosaline Pyra, the second member challengers have to face in the Elite, the Fire/Psychic specialist of the Elite Four. She is a Crime Hunter, whose job is to crack mysterious cases around the world.

"I think I'll look into the places where Psychic powers are blocked." She said. "If they were kidnapped, a kidnapper would try to take them somewhere where Psychics can't locate them. Maybe I'll ask Pakura to help with this one."

Just then, her CommuniDex rang, and she read the print message sent by Ash.

"Alright, I'll ask her later. For now, I'll go back to the Plateau." With that, she summoned her Shiny Moltres, and flew back to the Plateau.

* * *

"Alright, let's see." Another boy, a year or two older than Ash, was assembling what looked like machine parts together. He had brown hair and baby blue eyes. He was wearing a simple white T-shirt with a light blue vest, with dark brown jeans. He was also wearing a belt which kept his standard six Pokeballs. "If I put these together, the electrical current would flow continuously without burning out the minuscule copper wire." He used a drill to put the said machine parts in place.

This is Philip Robinson, a Steel/Electric Specialist, and the third member of the Elite. He is great at technology and inventing things, which is why most people call him "Genius Inventor". He was the one that helped replicate the CommuniDex for the other members of the Elite at Ash's request. He is an Information Hunter, whose job is to go to great lengths to uncover rare or hidden bits of information. Common activities for Information Hunters include searching for rare books, hacking to retrieve protected data, and tracking down people who know desired facts.

"All done!" He said happily, before his CommuniDex rang.

He opened the message, and widened his eyes.

"Ok, back to the Plateau I go!" He summoned his Skarmory and flew towards the Plateau.

* * *

A girl, who looked like she is in her late teens or early twenties, was chasing down a man. The man is running frantically for his life. He suddenly screeched to a stop as he ran into a dead end in a dark alley, and knew he was cornered.

"S-Spare me." He stuttered.

The girl stepped out of the shadows, allowing the moonlight to illuminate her features. She had ebony black hair and amethyst eyes and high cheekbones. Her soft pink lips were curled up in disdain, and her eyes were currently emotionless.

She is Pakura Ameyuri, the Ice/Fairy Specialist and the Leader of the Elite. She is currently wearing an outfit that is entirely black to allow her to hide in the shadows, and clutching to a knife. She is a Blacklist Hunter, her job is to track down dangerous and wanted criminals, and kill them if she must.

"Now why should I spare you?" she sneered. "You abuse Pokémon and even try to escape the law. Why do you think they sent me after you? I'm supposed to kill you."

The man lunged at her, and she side stepped him, and pinned him against the wall.

"Enjoy your time in hell." She smirked, before plunging her knife in his chest. She watched impassively as he slowly expired.

She shook her head as she cleaned her knife with a cloth. "They really don't remember I never miss my target."

Her CommuniDex rang, and when she saw the message, she summoned her Togekiss and flew towards the Plateau.

* * *

"Alright, everyone, I got an invite to the Pokémon World Championships." Ash was addressing his Pokémon. His old Pokémon consists of Pikachu, Venusaur, Charizard, Meganium, Fereligator, Blastoise, Typhlosion, Snorlax, Kingler, Muk, Heracross, Noctowl, Crawdaunt, Swellow, Pidgeot, Butterfree, Glalie, Garchomp, Seperior, Scrafty, Lapras, Gengar, Sceptile, Torterra, Emboar, Samurott, Krookodile, Leavanny, Gigalith, Seismitoad, Infernape, Floatzel, Unfezant, Gliscor, and Tauros.

And then, of course, there are his Legendries.

There's also the new Pokémon he caught (read: he saved them, and they followed him until he agreed to catch them). Gardevior, Lucario, Zororak, all the Eeveelutions, Roserade, Spiritomb, Mismagius, Gyarados, Salamence, Togekiss, Xatu.

And then there's the defected Pokémon, who got attached to his Elite members as they spent time with them. May's Skitty, Blaziken, and Glaceon, Iris' Axew and Emolga, Dawn's Pachirisu, Piplup and Buneary, and Misty's Corsola. Skitty, Glaceon, and Axew went to Pakura, Pachirisu and Emolga went to Phillip, Piplup and Corsola went to Jude, and Blaziken went to Rosaline. He kept Buneary, because it wants to be by Pikachu's side.

_"Hey Ash." Mewtwo said, interrupting his aura training._

_"What is it, Mewtwo?" Ash sighed, deactivating his Aura Levitation and landing on the ground._

_"Do you remember May's Skitty, Blaziken, Glaceon, Iris' Axew and Emolga, Dawn's Pachirisu, Piplup and Buneary, and Misty's Corsola?" he asked. Ash darkened at the mention of his former friends' names._

_"What about them?" he asked evenly, trying not to show his anger._

_"Well, it seems like they do not agree with what the traitors said, and wished to join you and your friends in your quest when I told them your current location."_

_"Yeah, sure." Ash said sarcastically. "And why would I believe them?"_

_Mewtwo silently handed him the remains of the Pokeballs. "They smashed these themselves, saying they do not want to be with their trainers anymore."_

_Ash knew Mewtwo is not lying, since he's a Legendary Psychic Pokémon and know what Pokémon are actually thinking._

_"Fine, bring them in." he said. "I'll see what they have to say."_

_When he teleported back to him, the Pokémon immediately got him into a group hug._

_**"Ash! It's good to see you again!"**__ Skitty said. __**"I finally can see you again, after enduring that traitor of a trainer! We've been waiting and waiting for you to come and take us away!"**_

_**"Yeah, she's so arrogant she hasn't been winning any Grand festival, and we're tired of her boasting she'll be upgraded the Queen of Hoenn!"**__ Glaceon remarked. __**"Why didn't the day care worker give my egg to you?"**_

_**"That wanabe of a Water Master is so narrow-minded. Strength doesn't come from how powerful a Pokémon is, it comes from the trainer's heart!"**__ Corsola said._

_**"I'm not going to let Pikachu out of my grasp this time!"**__ Buneary declared. __**"He's more important to me than Dawn!"**_

_**"Yeah I know, I'm not going to hear Iris saying for the millionth time how she'll be better than Lance someday."**__ Axew rolled his eyes._

_**"I spent a lot of time with May, but even I think she's changed, and not for the better." **__Blaziken remarked._

_**"If she wants to be a Dragon Master, she would catch dragons, not just any cute Pokémon." **__Emolga commented. __**"And I'm not going to let her discriminate you. You are a great trainer. Why can't she see that?"**_

_**"I know. Dawn can't see that either. I've travelled with you, and I think you are good!"**__ Piplup said._

_Pachirisu hopped on Ash's shoulder. __**"Yeah, she even needed help from you to catch me, and she repaid this by insulting you? How dare she!"**_

_**"Can we join you and your Elite, Ash?"**__ they asked in unison._

_Ash knew they were telling the truth, using his psychic powers, and it's not just sweet talk._

_"Sure, why not?" he shrugged. The next moment, they pounced onto him for a group hug._

"I'm going to go to attend the Pokémon World Championship, and you all will be coming with me. They will be there too, so we'll show them what we're made of." All his Pokémon cheered at the prospect of showing the traitors what he is really capable of.

"Hey, Ash!" Rosaline called out to him. "We're here!"

Ash went to the rooftop to greet the four members of his Elite, as they dismounted from their Pokémon.

"So you finally got your invite?" Jude said. "About time."

"Yeah, it took them quite a while to find out the fact that there's a Champion in PAL, and you know how secretive we can be." Ash replied.

"So, we'll leave now?" Jude asked.

Ash nodded. "Yes, now. We arrive to the Arena in the morning, since it's most likely all of us are to welcome the participants."

"Alright, let's get going." Ash said to his Elite Four.

"Skarmory/ Moltres/ Mantine/Togekiss/Charizard, let's fly!" Phillip, Rosaline, Jude, Pakura and Ash all shouted in unison.

And with that their mighty flying Pokémon took off, leaving their home behind for the Battle Arena.

"Hey, Ash, what are you going to do when you see them?" Rosaline asked.

Ash shrugged. "I'm angry, but I guess I'll just try to hold in my anger." Then the five of them looked on ahead as their Pokémon increased the speed towards the night clouds.

* * *

I already am the very best,

_(Ash's Pikachu defeating Pakura's Sylveon and being crowned Champion)_

Like no one ever was.

_(Ash using his Aura to defend himself against all the villainous team leaders)_

To prove to them is my real quest,

_(Ash and Pikachu confronting his former friends in Pallet Town)_

To protect them is my cause.

_(Ash protecting his Elite from Team Rocket, Magma, Aqua, Galactic and Plasma)_

I will do what I must do,

_(Pikachu saving Jude from a knife attack)_

Fighting for my rights.

_(Ash fighting a shadowy figure with his Charizard)_

Each Elite to understand

_(The PAL Elite Four standing in a pose)_

The power that they have

_(Ash's Elite Four showing off their abilities)_

PAL! It's you and me

_(Ash and Pikachu standing over a mountain that overlooked PAL)_

I know it's my destiny

_(Ash accepting the task Arceus assigned to him)_

Elite Four, oh, you're my best friends

_(Ash's Elite Four all nodding at him, saying that they got his back)_

In a world we must defend

_(The Elite Four surrounded by the villainous teams' grunts, and they prepared a defensive stance)_

Chosen One, a heart so true

_(The Legendaries all smiling at Ash)_

Our courage will pull us through

_(Ash and Pikachu managing to defeat Cyrus), (Jude trying and managing to save Philip from drowning in the river), (Phillip using his ability to set a trap for the Team Magma grunts), (Rosaline managing to evade a fatal attack), (Pakura taking an unknown person's offered hand with a determined expression)_

You teach me and I'll teach you

_(Pakura teaching Ash hand-to-hand and weapon combat), (Ash teaching Pakura battling strategies)_

(P-A-L) Gotta protect them all

_(All the regions Elites, Champions, with the PAL Elite Four posing together)_

PAL!

_(Ash running past everyone, and jumping towards the sky with Pikachu)_

* * *

"Alright, we're here." Jude said as they landed in front of their destination just as the sun rose, and they were greeted by the League Officials, Jessie and James, former members of Team Rocket.

"Look, it's Moltres!" James gushed, pointing at the Shiny Moltres that Rosaline dismounted from. "And a Shiny one at that! Rosaline, can I please touch it?" he begged the owner, eyes sparkling.

Jessie then whacked him on the head. "Stop being so childish, James." She chided, while everyone laughed, except for Pakura. Pakura shot everyone an annoyed look, shutting them up.

"Yeah, we're not going to steal it anyway, so quit playing!" said a certain talking Meowth.

"Alright, alright." said James, trying to pacify them. "We should tell them the details."

"Yeah." Jessie gave a cough and changed to her official business-like tone. "All of you are to register at the Pokémon Center for the tournament. The opening ceremonies and the tournament starts in three days' time."

"As for your rooms, instead of staying at the hotel with the other normal participants, you guys will be staying at a tower connected to the Battle Arena along with the other region Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions." said James. "After that, Charles Goodshow requests you and your Elite to meet him at the Ballroom, something about a briefing and some spoilers."

The Battle Arena has a tower designed exclusively for the Gym Leaders, Elite Four and the Champions of the regions, mainly to keep them safe away from the paparazzi. This will be their home until the tournament ends. Each region has two entire floors (except for PAL since they don't have Gym Leaders). They just simply step on an elevator and press the number the League Officials told them. Easy enough to remember.

The walls of the elevator are made of crystal so that they can watch the people on the ground floor shrink to ants as they shoot up into the air.

Each of them were given their own rooms which consist of a bedroom, a dressing area, and private bathroom with hot and cold running water. There are also so many automatic gadgets that Ash was sure he won't have time to press all the buttons. The shower alone has a panel with more than a hundred options he can choose regulating water temperature, pressure, soaps, shampoos, scents, oils and massaging sponges. When a person steps out on a mat, heaters come on that blow dry his body. Instead of struggling with knots in wet hair, one can just place his hand on a box that sends a current through his scalp, untangling, parting, and drying his hair almost instantly.

There is also a closet full of clothing designed to fit any taste, the windows zoom in and out on parts of the region at his command. He only needs to whisper a type of food from a gigantic menu into a mouthpiece and it appears, hot and steamy, before him in less than a minute.

There is also a desk, TV and computer with fast Internet Connection. There is also a place where you can place all your Pokeballs.

When James, Jessie and Meowth directed Ash to his room, Jessie started ranting about rude twerps, especially Misty, since she has become so stuck up she thought Misty had a stick up her ass. James was also pissed off at Brock. From what they said, he learnt that Gary, Paul, Tracey and Professor Oak are here, though only Gary and Paul are here to participate in the tournament. They told him they had duties to do, before leaving him in his room.

Ash shrugged. He would find Gary and Paul, but he has duties to do as the Champion of the host region. Maybe he would find them after he has registered. With that in mind, he put on a hood that he had, and going down to the Pokémon Center with his Elite to register. His Elite gave him strange looks but did not say anything.

"Alright, good luck to all of you." The nurse said, as they registered for the tournament. As they registered, Ash heard a voice he never want to hear again.

"Max, slow down, the tournament isn't going to go away." said a certain brunette co-ordinator.

"No, I've got to register quickly so I can get to my training and book the best rooms in the hotel." A bespectacled kid answered.

The Elite members looked at each other. Jude even took Pikachu off Ash's shoulder in case they recognize him using that Pikachu.

"Is he one of them?" asked Jude, as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder.

Ash silently nodded.

"Let's go, then." Phillip said. "Before your secret is out."

As they made their way back out, unfortunately, Max bumped into Ash.

"Hey! What do you bump into me for, apologize!" Max demanded. Only to be confronted by four angry Elites. Well three Elites were clearly angry. The fourth had her face hidden by her hair.

"Stop shouting at our friend like that!" Jude snapped. "You were the one that bumped into him, not the other way round! If anything, you should apologize to him!"

"Still, he needs to watch where he's going!" said May. "If he didn't, Max wouldn't bump into him!"

Brock, meanwhile, decided to flirt with Rosaline. "Oh, our meeting must be arranged by fate! Such a cute thing like you should go out with a manly person like- AUGH!" At that point, Rosaline snapped her fingers, and Brock's hair caught fire, and he was running around trying to douse it. A while later, Rosaline then snapped her fingers again, and the fire went off. Brock collapsed to the ground clutching to his injured scalp.

"You just used your ability, didn't you?" Jude whispered.

Rosaline nodded. "He deserves it."

"Apologize!" Max was still shouting at Ash, who was ignoring him. "Or I'll kick your ass in a battle!" Only to hear the other Elites (except Pakura) laugh at him. But even she had a hidden smirk on her face.

"There's no way you can beat Red." Rosaline said.

"A kid like you has no chance at all." Jude said.

"Yeah, you'll be flattened in five minutes flat." Phillip said.

"…" Pakura simply looked at Max in disdain.

"We'll see." Max growled.

"Not interested." Ash replied. "Let's go, guys." The Elite nodded, and followed Ash.

"Knew you were weak." Misty said, interrupting their way out.

That ticked Ash off. "Fine, if it's a battle you want, a battle you shall have! Let's get this over and done with."

They found an empty battlefield with Jude as the referee.

"This will be a three on three battle between Red Satoshi and Max Maple. Substitutions are not allowed. The match ends when one side is out of Pokémon. Trainers, choose your Pokémon!"

"Mightyena, I choose you!" Max said, as he sent out a Mightyena, who growled at Ash.

"Xatu, lend me your aura!" Ash asked the Psychic Mystic Pokémon.

"Ha, you're pretty stupid! Dark Pokémon is immune to Psychic Pokémon!" Max shouted. "This will be easy."

"Why would he send a Psychic type Pokémon against a Dark type?" Rosaline asked the other Elites.

"He'll win even if that Mightyena's immune to psychic moves." said Phillip. "Just watch."

"That's right." said Pikachu.

Pakura said nothing.

"Alright, Mightyena, let's start this off with Toxic attack!" Max commanded.

"Take it." Ash said. The toxic badly poisoned Xatu.

"Perfect. Now use Crunch!" Max cried.

"Dodge and use Miracle Eye!" Ash told his Xatu.

Xatu jumped up, and his eye sparkled as it stared at Mightyena.

"What kind of move is that? It didn't even affect my Mightyena one bit." Max sneered.

"Now use Psycho Shift!" Ash shouted out.

"Ha! It won't even affect my Mightyena one bit. Take it!" Max asked his Pokémon to take it to prove that it won't affect his Pokémon. Surprisingly, his Pokémon glowed purple, indicating it is badly poisoned.

"What? How?" he demanded.

"Miracle Eye removes a Dark-type Pokémon's immunity to Psychic-type attacks. Which means, your Mightyena can be attacked by Psychic moves now." Ash explained. "Surely a smart aleck like you would know."

"You…That's why you asked Xatu to take the Toxic attack!" Max accused.

Ash smirked, and nodded. "That's right. Now, finish it off with Dazzling Gleam!"

There was a sudden powerful flash that made those watching the match cover their eyes. When the light died down, Mightyena was down with swirls in its eyes.

"Mightyena is unable to battle, Xatu wins!" Jude announced. "Trainer, send your next Pokémon."

"Gallade, I choose you!" he sent out the same Ralts he had befriended only this time he had evolved to one of his final forms, Gallade.

"Gallade, Close Combat! Let's finish this bird off!" Max shouted.

"Xatu, fly up high to dodge it!" Ash said calmly.

Xatu used its wings to fly up high, dodging Gallade's barrage of punches and kicks.

"Now, Xatu, Aerial Ace!"

"Dodge it!" Max shouted.

Ash calmly said, "While it's dodging, use Aerial Ace again." This time, it hit Gallade, and since it's part fighting, the move was super effective, knocking it out in one hit.

"Gallade is unable to battle, Xatu wins. Trainer, send out your last Pokémon."

Max got angry, and sent out his last Pokémon. A Banette appeared.

"Banette, use Shadow Ball!" Max cried out. Banette created a black ball in front of its mouth and fires it at the Xatu.

"Xatu, use Ominous Wind to blow the Shadow Ball back to it!" Ash said.

"Dodge it, Banette!" Banette dodged it, but that was what Ash is waiting for.

"Xatu, get behind Banette using teleport and use Confuse Ray!" Ash said. It hit Banette dead on, and Banette is confused.

"While it is confused, use Psyshock!" The Psyshock fainted the Banette instantly.

"Banette is unable to battle, Xatu wins!" Jude announced. "The winner of this match is Red Satoshi."

"Come on guys, let's go." Ash said, as the Elite turned, and silently followed him, Jude returning his Pikachu once they are out of sight.

* * *

"I still don't get why Charles Goodshow wants to see us." Jude said, as they made their way to the ballroom that was located in the Plaza Hotel.

Ash shrugged. "We'll find out soon enough."

The ballroom is a high ceilinged elegant room decorated with a tasteful crystal chandelier shone bright lights that reflected off the highly polished floors and decorations, making the ballroom rather sparkly. In the middle of the ballroom there was a long table covered by a white table cloth with laces and a single red line near the bottom. There were cloth covered chairs as well with cushions to be more comfortable. Along the walls were tables filled with various food and drinks, buffet style. Standing around the food table or sitting down on the table in the middle were the Elite Four and Champions of the five regions.

Ash opened the door, and they went in without being noticed by anyone, since they were too busy talking to each other.

Except for Charles Goodshow.

"Ah, Ash, my boy!" he came over to greet Ash and his Elite.

"Hello, Mr. Goodshow." He smiled at Charles.

"Good to see you and your Elite. We are just having a little social gathering, before we have a briefing. Just go ahead and enjoy yourselves for a while, maybe talk to the others"

"Ok." The PAL Elite nodded, and went to get some food for themselves. They were hungry anyway, since they haven't eaten breakfast.

Meanwhile at the table, Lorelei was looking at a PAL leaflet. "According to this, the PAL Elite is made up of these four, according to ranking, starting from the lowest: Jude Harrison, Rosaline Pyra, Phillip Robinson, and Pakura Ameyuri, with Pakura being the Leader of the Elite. There's no info on the Champion, only the fact that he was crowned Champion two years ago." She was talking to her fellow Elites. "There are no Gym Leaders at all, only Elites. If one wants to take the Elite challenge, they are required to win all the 12 parts of the fur symbols of their Battle Frontier, and then win the Trainers Tournament. Also, they need six Pokémon, as all battles are six-on-six, though they are allowed to rest It says here they have separate rooms."

"Then how does it work, if they have a Leader of the Elite? The Leader must be the strongest among them." Bruno said.

"Well, according to the pamphlet, you need to defeat one Elite at a time to unlock the next door. In the beginning when trainers first enter, all doors are locked except for Jude's. After he is defeated, the next door gets unlocked and the same goes for the third. Pakura is the last to be challenged." Lorelei read from the pamphlet. "Each Elite has his or her own distinct door, unlike Unova, which all of them has the same door, although they can be challenged in any order."

Lance took the pamphlet. "It says here that Jude is famous for being a supermodel and an S-Class Pokémon Connoisseur, Rosaline is famous for her Mahou Shoujo manga writing and she's a Pokemon history expert, Phillip's famous for his inventions, he can invent loads of stuff the world hasn't even thought about, and Pakura's famous for being a Top Coordinator."

"What else does it say?" Agatha asked.

"It says that PAL Elites is well known to specialize in two types. I don't know what types they specialize in. It doesn't say here." Steven frowned. **(A/N: Because Kanto's Champion in the Games is your rival, in the anime, they technically don't have a Champion, so I'll put Steven as Kanto's Champion while Wallace is the Hoenn Champion.)**

"If you must know, I specialize in Water/Dark. Mainly Water though." They jumped and turned, only to see Jude smiling at them. He was holding on to a toast.

"Who are you?" Bruno asked.

"Jude Harrison. I'm surprised you didn't notice us come in the ballroom. Then again, you guys were too busy talking to each other." He bit on his toast.

"Hi, nice to meet you, Jude!" The Elite members smiled at him. So this is the first member of the PAL Elite. The boy had black hair with smooth bangs brushed to the side with wide amber eyes that was filled with mischief. Pale skin and soft lips that oozes out the desire to be kissed. He had a slight muscular build and is fairly tall. He was rather cute looking. He was one example of a pretty boy.

Jude smiled back. "Yeah, nice to meet you guys too. You guys are the Kanto Elite, right?"

"How do you know?" Lorelei asked surprised.

"You guys are known even in this region." Jude shrugged.

"Really?" Bruno asked.

"No, I'm lying." Jude said playfully. "Of course! One of the fellow Elite told us about you. Apparently, the Elite met you before."

"What? Who?" Lance asked.

"Sorry can't tell ya." Jude said, winking, making the female Elite members blush.

"So, tell us more about this Elite of yours." Steven said.

"Hmm….I'll just tell you this: all of us have our titles. Nicknames, you know. For instance, they call me the Merman. Also, we also have jobs outside besides being an Elite. I mean, we all think we should do something else to be useful to the society besides being an image to our region. It gets boring after a while, being an Elite, and staying at one place, don't you think?" The others nodded at his statement.

"So, you guys have a life outside of being an Elite?" Lorelei asked.

"Yeah, I mean, no one ever gets past me when they took the challenge, except for our Champion, and that was like 2 years ago. It's boring for the other Elites too, so we go outside our Plateau and travel around and do other stuff, like participating in events and doing contests, helping to solve mysteries, hunting for treasures, inventing things, stuff like that."

"So tell us more about your Champion." Lance requested.

Jude shrugged. "He was so strong that he was the only one to be able to defeat all of us, we were surprised that our Leader got defeated, although she somehow did manage to get him to use all six of his Pokémon. He only used at most four when he reached Phillip. He used only two against me and Rosaline."

"Wow…." Steven said in awe.

Jude finished his toast. "You know, I'm gonna get more food now, and maybe grab some coffee. We are tired from the late night Poké-flight here. I'll see you later." With that he sauntered off to get more breakfast.

"I'm getting more breakfast too." Bruno said, getting up.

"Me too." Lance mumbled, and he left the table as well.

* * *

"Charles really outdone himself. Breakfast today is rather extravagant." Bruno said, gobbling on the scrambled eggs. "How does he afford all these?"

"Hey, save some for the others, won't you?" Karen frowned at him. "You're not the only one wanting to eat, you know."

"Yeah, we need to eat too you know." Will glared at him. "I was looking forward to the scrambled eggs."

Koga stayed silent, while Lance just shook his head. Bruno always eats lots of food, saying he needs the energy for training. There's no way he'll cut down the amount of food he takes in.

Just then, Drake appeared. "Hey, Lance, have you heard about the Legendary Dragon Duo?"

"You mean the world famous Dragon Duo that every Dragon user dreams to battle someday? Yes I heard of them. It's the one where it consists of two people, a boy and a girl, that is said to be able to tame even the wildest Dragon Pokémon. Individually, they were given the title Dragon Prince and the Dragon Princess. They are said to know the hearts of the dragons and have the ability soothe their hatred if any. They can also fully utilize their potential, and they have the gift to be able to summon Dragon Pokémon for help. They can also very fluent in the dragon language, being able to understand what Dragon Pokémon are speaking and write in said language. They are said to have powers that can match the most powerful Dragon Pokémon."

Drake nodded. "I was talking to Charles earlier, and he told me about them. Apparently, this is their home region."

"I definitely would like to meet them." Lance replied.

"That's the thing. They vanished into thin air five years ago, just like that Ash boy you mentioned." Drake sighed. "There were rumours they were going to get married and they were lovers, since they were so close, but something happened and they suddenly disappeared!"

"They….disappeared?" Lance widened his eyes. "Like Ash?"

"Yeah I'm just telling you because they originated from this region." Drake said. "Oh well, I'm going to talk to my fellow Elites now, later!" With that, he left.

'Disappeared, huh?' Lance thought. 'What if the PAL Elite has something to do with both disappearances?'

"Alright, sorry." Bruno said, apologizing for taking all the food. He turned his attention to a rainbow cake with chocolate layer. "Oh, it's the last slice! I get dibs!" he shot out a hand to take it, but a delicate hand was faster, and snatched up the cake in the split second.

Bruno turned to glare at the owner of the said hand, but his glare died when it met amethyst eyes. She could be considered beautiful with her shiny black hair that is rippling in the slight breeze from the air-con and glossy pink lips. She also has a voluptuous figure. She is staring at them while nibbling at the cake she had taken, after removing the protective plastic around it.

"Oh My God, she's beautiful!" Will said. Bruno dumbly nodded.

"Hey, I'm Karen, nice to meet you!" Karen smiled at her. Instead of smiling or greeting back, the girl stayed silent, and looked rather wary. She just gave a curt nod after a while.

"Are you one of the PAL Elite?" Will asked eagerly. Pakura gave a single nod.

"What's your name?" Karen asked.

Pakura stayed silent for a long while, chewing her cake, before saying quietly, "They call me Pakura."

"Pakura?" Bruno said, remembering the name from the pamphlet. Wasn't she the Leader of the Elite?

Pakura finally finished her cake and said, "I'm going somewhere else. Later."

"So soon?" Lance asked her. "Why not stay a little longer and chat with us?"

Pakura shook her head, and left quickly before they could say anything else.

* * *

Sitting at one of the chairs at the main table was Phillip Robinson. He was eating and at the same time, making a rough design for his new invention with the laptop he had brought along. He had made sure to sit somewhere where others would not really notice, so that he could have his peace.

He deleted yet another one of the parts he designed for the zillionth time. "This is not the one that I envisioned!" He said to himself in frustration. "It's missing something, but what is it?" He nearly tore his hair in aggravation.

"Something wrong?" A voice asked.

Phillip looked up, opening his mouth to snap at the person for disturbing his work, thinking it's one of his fellow Elite, Jude, but he was wrong. Standing there was five people, all of them smiling at him.

"No, it's nothing." Phillip looked back down on his laptop, only to hear chairs scraping around him. The people sat around him, and tried to bring him into conversation.

Phillip sighed, and closed his laptop. He'll just have to do this later.

"So, are you one of the PAL Elite?" A girl with short black hair and blue eyes, with 2 red flowers that cover the sides of her head asked him.

"Yeah, I am. I'm Phillip Robinson." Phillip introduced himself.

"Hi, I'm Phoebe! I specialize in Ghost type Pokémon" the girl with 2 red flowers on her hair introduced herself.

"I'm Glacia, Ice type." A blonde haired girl introduced herself.

"I'm Sidney, a Dark type." A slightly bald man with one patch a purple hair that sticks upright said.

"I'm Drake, a Dragon type." A man wearing what looked like a ship captain's hat said.

"And I'm Wallace, Champion of Hoenn, and a Water type." Wallace introduced himself.

"So, tell us more about yourself." Phoebe asked.

"I'm the third member you have to face if you take the challenge, and I'm a Steel/Electric specialist." Phillip shrugged. "My nickname is the Genius Inventor."

"Wow, you must be strong, if you are the third member! I mean, no one who took the PAL Elite challenge got past even the first member!"

"Not really." Phillip said dryly. "Our Champion did. He's the first person that defeated all four of us, although only our Leader managed to force him to use all six of his Pokémon." He suddenly stood up. "I'm going to get some more food."

"I'll join you." Wallace and Phoebe stood up, and followed Phillip. They chatted their way to the table, mainly talking about Phillip's new invention, a better version of the binoculars, called the "Grandiculars", where you can replay action, slow everything down, and they flash up a play-by-play breakdown if you need it. Perfect while you watch a match since you'll know what exactly is going on as it has X-ray features that can see through smoke and explosions and attacks.

* * *

Cynthia sighed. This breakfast gathering is rather in a happy mood. She hadn't been in a happy mood since a certain cap wearing boy with a Pikachu vanished off the face of the Earth. She was standing in a corner, stewing in her own thoughts.

_"Where's Ash?" Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion, has been looking for him all over, but no luck. She was confronting his friends, since they are close to him, and she believed they might know where he had went._

_"Why would you be looking for that loser?" Brock sneered. "Why waste your time with him when you can have me?" he tried to take her hand but she smacked him away._

_"Where is he?" she repeated herself._

_"Who knows? He disappeared with all his Pokémon and never returned. Good riddance too, we were about to get rid of him anyway." Iris shrugged, smirking._

_"He might be dead for all we care." Misty said._

_Cynthia was livid. How dare they do that to him!_

_"How could you? He helped you countless times, and saved your lives, without asking anything in return! How could you just plan to hurt him and get rid of him, and forget all he has done for you?"_

_"You can go look for him yourself if you want, we don't know where he went, and we could care less." Dawn said indifferently._

_Cynthia gave them one last glare and strode off._

_'I'll find you Ash. I'll find you, and make sure you never leave me again.' She vowed to herself._

"Earth to Cynthia!" Aaron shouted in her ear. Cynthia was jolted out of her memories

Bertha frowned at her. "Don't tell me you are still thinking about the Ash Ketchum boy. It's been like four years since he disappeared."

"He did not disappear!" Cynthia hissed. "It was those traitor friends of his who caused this to happen! And how could I, when…" She took a step back, only to step on a foot.

"Oh, sorry-" Cynthia looked up to see a hooded person with a Lucario by his side.

Inside the hood, Ash gulped. All he was doing was getting some food (and a lot of food it was too), and he was reaching for the chocolate éclair near the Sinnoh Elite, when someone suddenly stepped on his foot, causing him to nearly drop his éclair. When he looked up, he saw the Sinnoh Champion. He felt a slight regret for not telling her how he had felt about her before he ran away, but he must put up a show.

**"You ok, Master?"** Lucario asked him.

**"Are you alright, Ash?"** Pikachu asked from his hidden position in his cloak.

Ash gave Lucario and Pikachu a very slight nod. He has a role to play.

"Oh no, it's ok, Miss-" He pretended not to know her name.

"Cynthia." Cynthia introduced herself. "What's your name?"

"Red Satoshi." Ash replied shortly. "I'm the Champion of the PAL region."

"Oh, so you're the famous Champion? The most powerful Pokémon Master?" Flint asked eagerly. "The one that was nicknamed Silent Hero?"

"Yeah…" Ash was a bit cautious as he said this. Where was this going?

"Please, can you tell us if a boy called Ash Ketchum has been in this region?" Cynthia pleaded. He must be somewhere, and if he wasn't seen in all the other regions, he must be somewhere in this region. "I've been looking everywhere for him, and it turned out nothing!"

Ash frowned. Why would Cynthia go so far to find him?

"You really need to get over this crush on him." Aaron shook his head. "It's been four years already!"

"Aaron!" Lucian smacked his head with his book. "That's not nice!"

"Alright, sorry." Aaron said.

Ash gaped, not that anyone could see it. Cynthia likes him too? As much as he would like to tell her, however, he still needed to keep a show. But maybe, maybe he could give her some clue, to give her hope that she has a chance to find him.

"Yeah, he is in this region." Ash said. This catches Cynthia's attention.

"Have you seen him?" Cynthia asked hopefully.

"I have. However, he told me not to tell you anything, other than the fact that he's participating in this tournament."

"Thank you." Cynthia said, smiling. Now there's a huge chance of finding him, and possibly make him hers.

Ash waved the thanks off. "No problem."

"So, tell us more about your Elite." Aaron said eagerly.

"Uh….you see…"

Ash found himself bombarded with questions by the Sinnoh Elite, with no way to get out. He answered them to the best he could, without giving himself away. And all his Elite members are chatting with the other region Elites.

'This is going to take a while.' Ash thought with a groan.

* * *

'I think that's enough food for now.' Rosaline thought, as she looked at the plate that she had filled with food from going to different tables. She grabbed an orange juice, and looked for a seat at the main table. She looked around for her fellow Elites, hoping she could join one of them, but they were too far away from her, so she shrugged, and sat down alone somewhere near the end of the table, and began consuming her breakfast.

"Hey, mind if we join you?" A female's voice asked her. She looked up to see five people smiling down at her. The speaker was a female with short purple hair and glasses.

"Oh, sure." She smiled at them, as they sat down around her. "I'm Rosaline Pyra, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Rosaline." A man with saffron and black hair with black eyes said.

"So, are you one of the PAL Elite?" A girl with huge blonde hair in a white hat and blue eyes asked her.

"Yeah." Rosaline nodded.

"Say." A guy with black spiked hair with matching eyes leaned close to Rosaline. His eyes were narrowed in such a way that gives him a mysterious air about him "You're a cute one. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Grimsley!" The purple haired girl knocked his head. "It's rude to ask personal questions to someone we just met!"

The now identified Grimsley held his head. "You don't have to hit so hard, Shauntal."

"Er….no, it's ok." Rosaline said, sweatdropping.

"So, what's your speciality?" Shauntal asked.

"I'm a Fire/Psychic specialist."

"Oh, you're just like Caitlin then." Grimsley indicated the girl with the white hat. "She's a Psychic too."

"What types do the rest of you specialize in?" Rosaline asked.

"Dark." Grimsley said.

"Ghost." Shauntal replied.

"Fighting." Marshal said.

"I'm a Champion, so I don't have any speciality type." Alder shrugged.

"You must be strong to be able to be a PAL Elite member." Caitlin remarked.

"Oh no, I am not very strong. I'm actually the second member you have to face if you ever take our challenge." Rosaline shook her head. "I'm nothing compared to the Champion. Actually, I don't think I can even match the Leader."

"Tell us more." Alder requested.

"Champion Red is a very strong person. He's the only person so far to be able to get past Jude, and the first Champion of our region ever. All of us never lost our matches, until Red came along, and decimated us with his Pokémon. Even Pakura lost, although she was able to get him down to his last Pokémon. After her defeat, he was crowned Champion."

"Cool." Shauntal was awestruck at the Champion's power.

"It is." Rosaline nodded. "Also, the thing is, each one of us has something, a unique trait that makes us stand out from one another. We also have our own nicknames. For example, my nickname is Fire to Ice, because my fiery personality contrasts with Pakura's icy personality, and er…we were former travelling companions." She chuckled sheepishly. "Actually she doesn't even talk unless to give a command during Pokémon battles. I'm the opposite, I like to socialize with people, I like to talk a lot, and I'm like the polar opposite of her, thus my nickname."

"So is her nickname Ice to Fire?" Caitlin guessed.

"Oh no, it's not. Her nickname is something else altogether. In fact it is her title."

"So what is her nickname then?" Grimsley asked.

"It's for us to know and you to find out." Rosaline smiled, as she gulped down her orange juice.

* * *

After breakfast, Charles gathered everyone at the main table. "Alright, did everyone notice five new people coming in as you guys were socializing during breakfast?" Everyone nodded, as they have talked to least one of the PAL Elite.

"They are the PAL Elite, and they will be your hosts for this tournament!" Charles said. There were murmurs of excitement.

"So any questions you'll like to ask?" Charles asked.

"Er….what are their specialty?" Lorelei asked. "Besides Jude, since we know he's a Water/Dark."

"Rosaline is a Fire/Psychic." Shauntal informed her.

"Phillip's an Electric/Steel." Phoebe mentioned.

"And Pakura's…" Bruno trailed off. She didn't mention her type specialty.

He was interrupted by Wallace, however. "Oh My God! Pakura Ameyuri? It's so great to meet you up close!"

Pakura merely frowned at him.

"Something wrong, Wallace?" Steven asked.

"And I can't believe you are a PAL Elite member too!" Wallace exclaimed.

"What's wrong Wallace?" Steven practically shouted.

"Oh…sorry. You see, Pakura's a Top Coordinator just like me, but she's labelled as a legendary one."

"Like Dr. Abby?" Glacia asked. Dr. Abby was give the title of Legendary Coordinator in Hoenn for winning the region's Grand Festival in her first year with just her then-Skitty, but then retired right after that.

"No, Pakura's in a whole new level altogether. What made her stand out among the other Top Coordinators is that she is famous for winning five Grand Festivals in the five regions straight in a row, and having Master Rank victories in all categories, which makes it a total of 40 Ribbons she won in her region. Counting the Ribbons she has to win in order to enter the Grand Festival in the other regions that makes a total of 65 Ribbons she has won in a short span of five years, making her the best of the best. That's including the Aqua Ribbon she won at the Wallace Cup back in Johto. I watched her win without losing any points, not even in the finals!" Wallace explained to wide eyes.

"66, actually." Rosaline corrected him. "Including the Aqua Ribbon." She earned herself a glare from Pakura. Why can't she just shut her mouth?

"66 Ribbons!" Wallace said in alarm. "Why, I am a novice compared to her!"

Pakura glared at the stalker….er…Wallace. Why is this person a Coordinator too? She just wants to get this…gathering over and done with. That's why she hates going to gatherings. Somehow, something about you will get talked about. And being a coordinator doesn't matter, because this tournament is not a contest.

"Enough." Ash said coldly. "Weren't you asking about her type specialty?"

"Oh yeah." Rosaline said. "She's a Fairy/Ice type."

"Wait, what's a Fairy type?" Cynthia asked. They never heard of this type before.

Surprisingly, it was Ash (Red) who answered.

"Fairy-type Pokémon are mostly cute, pink or feminine in appearance, and can be really powerful. Fairy types also have some magical appeal to them. As opposed to Psychic-type Pokémon, Fairy-type Pokémon have powers related to magic and supernatural powers, instead of mind power." Ash explained. "Considered to be one of the best defensively, and very powerful offensively, as it is super effective to against Dragon, Fighting, and Dark, all of which were otherwise great types defensively."

"Looks like they're a force to be reckoned with." Lance mumbled, hearing the Dragon part.

"You got that right." Rosaline said. "They are immune to dragon-type moves."

"So basically, she's a dragon slayer…" Drake trailed off, looking at Pakura with unease.

"Yup!" Jude nodded.

"If I am going to battle her during the tournament, I'll probably lose." Lance muttered.

"Can you guys show us an example of a Fairy Pokémon?" Cynthia requested.

With encouragement from Lucario (and a hidden Pikachu), Ash took out his Pokéball, and threw it, releasing the Pokémon within. When the light cleared, a quadruped, mammalian Pokémon covered primarily in pale cream-colored fur with pinkish feet, ears, and tail was revealed. There are two bows on it, one on its left ear and one around its neck, from which two feelers adorn it. The bows are pale cream with pinkish centres, while the feelers are pale cream with pinkish and blue tips. It has short, slender legs and small paws with three visible toes on each foot. Its eyes are blue with white pupils and no visible sclera.

**"Hi, everyone."** The Pokémon said in a cute and calm manner, but all the other Elites (other than the PAL Elite and Ash) heard it as "Sylveon."

Everyone "ooh-ed" and "ahh-ed" at this Pokémon.

"Ohh…it's so cute!" Caitlin exclaimed. "Can I touch it?"

"Sure." Ash shrugged.

Caitlin walked over and petted Sylveon, and Sylveon affectionately wraps its ribbon-like feelers around Caitlin's arms, sending a soothing aura to Caitlin, which gave her a calm feeling.

The sheer cuteness of this Pokémon was enough to make even a certain Johto Champion to be tempted to pet it but restrained himself because he doesn't want to look like a softie in front of the other Elites, especially the PAL Elites. In fact, he had to grab his hand in order to prevent himself from petting Sylveon. The said temptation however, walked over to him and nudged him, whining to be petted.

"You can go on and pet Sylveon!" Rosaline said.

"No need to restrain yourself." Phillip said in amusement to Lance.

"Yeah, no one's gonna laugh!" Jude smiled.

"…" Pakura said nothing.

"Just pet it." Ash said. "Don't hurt its feelings."

Lance gave in, and started to pet Sylveon, which gave a purr of contentment, wrapped its feelers around his arm, giving him a calm feeling, and rubbed its head against his leg. Thankfully, no one said anything.

Sylveon went around to get petted by everyone.

"Not even Crasher Wake would be able to resist the cuteness." Ash commented, watching Sylveon get petted by Agatha.

"Does it evolve from any Pokémon?" Cynthia asked eagerly.

"It used to be an Eevee." Ash replied.

"So it's an Eeveelution?" Cynthia asked.

"It is." Rosaline said.

"So how can it evolve into this cute thing?" Grimsley asked, petting the Intertwining Pokémon.

"Let it learn a Fairy-type move and it must be affectionate toward you as an Eevee." Ash answered.

"Ohh…" Everyone said in awe.

"Alright, that's enough." Ash said. "Sylveon, return." He returned his Sylveon in a beam of red light.

"So, now we know their type specialty, shall we get down to business?" Charles asked, having watched the scene silently. Everyone agreed, and went to sit down on the main table.

"Alright, due to the huge number of participants, we are to have preliminary tag battles for the first three days. Each pair are to use six Pokémon; three for each trainer. You will know your partner on the day the tournament starts." Charles said. "You have to win against at least two other pairs to be able to get in the tournament round, and have three chances to do so. Pairs who win two rounds are automatically in the top 128 people."

"Usually, the Tag Battles last three days, but if you won both battles for the first two days, there would be no need to participate on the third day of tag battles. Which means, the third day of tag battles is a break for those who had won the first two days, since the third day is just another chance for the participants to get a spot in the Top 128."

Just then, Charles phone rang. He gave a "one-minute" sign to all Elites, as he talked on the phone, the Elites silent as they watched him. He hung up after a few short minutes.

"Oh, and also, Phlox has contacted me just now, saying all participants have registered, so the opening ceremonies is tonight instead of three days later, so PAL Elites, get the preparations ready by tonight. Phlox said you guys have planned it a long time ago, so there shouldn't be a problem."

"Alright, you guys are dismissed, have a nice day." Charles said, and the Elites all stood up and left.

"We should go prepare for the ceremony." Jude said to his fellow Elites.

They nodded, and went off together to prepare.

* * *

Later, Ash was dressed in what will either be the most sensational or deadliest costume among the five of them. He was wearing what looked like a simple black shirt with dark blue pants. He was also wearing a silver belt, and shiny black boots. His cape was simple as well. It was entirely black, giving him an unfathomable air about him. His fringe is also combed down to cover his eyes completely to add to the effect.

He had to wear the costume to reflect his nickname, since he doesn't have a type specialty, unlike his Elites. They had planned to wear costumes that reflects their type specialty, and make a good impression among the other participants and audience, since they are the Elite the other participants never heard of, and first impressions are always important. They planned to ride the chariot from the Battle Tower through the City circle back to the Battle Arena stage, where Rosaline, their emcee would give a welcoming speech.

"You look great Ash." Pikachu said.

"Thanks, Pikachu." Ash replied, before going to meet up with the other Elite members, and all of them (except Pakura) gaped at his costume.

"Wow, you look great!" Phillip said. He was wearing a glittery outfit decorated with pearls that catches the light around them, but there seem to have electric lights sewn to them, for what Ash thought was pearls was actually light sources. He was also wearing a headdress that mimicked the complex inner workings of electronics. The said headdress also have lights attached to it. He was also wearing silver shoes decorated with glitter.

"You too, Phillip." Ash smiled at him. "Nice outfit, Jude."

"Thanks." Jude was wearing what looked like a blue tunic that is tinted in black that represented waves' appearance at night with starfish pins on his shoulder and a dark seaweed crown that is decorated with black pearls. He was wearing turquoise shoes that has a shine to it. "You girls look amazing."

Rosaline smiled. She was wearing what looked like a magenta and red two-layered gown that had ruffles and spiked sleeves, complete with a pink scarf around her neck. She was wearing a magenta and red ballet flats with red 'spikes' at the side to resemble flames. On her hair was a small white tiara with a pink round gem in the centre, with flame shaped 'wings' protruding from its side.

Pakura is wearing a strapless gown that reached the floor that looked like she was standing in a pool of velvet. The gown was decorated with flowery lace at the top half, and at the bottom it was white with dark pink on the left side, and a slight light pink in front. The parts of the gown that reached the floor was alternated between pinkish lavender and white. At the middle of the part where top and bottom half of the gown were separated there was a flower shaped jewel made out of diamond. Her stylist also put her hair down, and added a light blue platinum tiara that was intertwined into a heart shape in the middle. In the heart shaped gap, there was a smaller sapphire diamond heart in the middle. To finish the outfit, she was wearing icy blue wings at her back. Her shoes couldn't be seen, and she lifted her gown enough to let them see she was wearing pink glittery flats complete with a dark blue ribbon in the front.

All their faces were relatively clear of makeup, just a bit of highlighting here and there. Probably to show their natural beauty.

"They are going to love us." said Phillip. The others (except Pakura) nodded in agreement.

They climbed into their own chariot, as every Elite has his or her own one which is pulled by 4 Rapidash. Pakura is going to go first, followed by Phillip, Rosaline, Jude, and finally, Ash. Ash hid his Pikachu in the chariot, and also sent out his Ho-oh to fly behind him, since it itself is to light up the torch. When all are in position, the music plays, and they started moving.

Meanwhile, the audience and participants were waiting to see what the PAL Elite is like. There were cameras all over the path on the way to the Battle Arena, and connected to the screen, where they will show the faces of the Elite. Some of the audience were seated around the City Circle, for there were so many people coming to witness this ceremony, to see the Elite themselves, there wasn't enough space in the Arena. All they knew about the Elite were their names. They wanted to see what they looked like, and guess their type specialty from their costumes.

The doors finally opened, and the audience cheered as they saw the Elite. Meanhile, the screen at the Battle Arena turned on as well.

"There they are! There they are! The PAL Elite!" Charles Goodshow announced, when the screen came on. "First up, is the Leader of the Elite, Pakura. She looks just dazzling in her outfit, the pink just compliments her eye colour. Don't you think?" The audience roared to show their agreement.

"Phillip looks just tech-savvy in his outfit. I like the lights in his costume. It reflects his specialty really well." Phlox said, as she watched Phillip's fans going crazy over his outfit.

"Rosaline's outfit just reflects the fiery spirit in her. I wouldn't want to cross her if her outfit says anything about her personality." Charles mock shuddered.

"I like Jude's theme in his outfit, and the little bit of black here and there to reflect the other type specialty of his." Phlox commented, as his fans threw rose water at him. "And…what's that? At the background?"

Ash is riding on his chariot, his cape billowing behind him, looking expressionless. The setting sun also shadowed his face, leaving his appearance as a mystery. Behind him was a magnificent bird with feathers are predominantly gold and red, with yellow tail-feathers, a white underside, and green feathers at the tip of its wings.

"Oh My God! Our Silent Hero, Champion Red!" Phlox said in ecstasy. "And is that a Ho-oh behind him?" The crowd's initial alarm quickly changed to shouts and cheers of "Champion Red!", "Silent Hero!", "Ho-oh!" Every head was turned their way, and the cameras were trained on them. Ash lifted his chin a bit higher, and gave a shy smile and waved at the audience, and everyone throws flowers at Ash's chariot. However, unlike the others, the number of roses was enough to completely cover the floor of the chariot.

"Champion Red! Champion Red! Champion Red!" His name was being called from all sides. Ash smiled 'bashfully' and waved at them, which gained favour from the audience. Who knows? He might need the public's support later.

The chariots finally reached the Battle Arena. The participants cheered as they saw the five chariots enter.

"Ho-oh, sacred fire in the torch!" Ash commanded. Ho-oh swept down, and released a gold-rose-coloured flame from its beak at the torch, igniting it, to cheers.

They finally stopped in front of the stage, and the five of them got off their chariots, Ash returning his Ho-oh with thanks, and walked towards the five seats reserved for them at the stage, in the midst of cheers.

"Now, we give the mic to the PAL's representative, the Fire to Ice, Rosaline Pyra!" Everyone clapped and cheered as the girl stood up, and made her way to the front.

"Thank you, Mr. Goodshow." Rosaline said. "Welcome, everyone, to the Pokémon World Championships. This year, we hold the tournament at the Pokémon's favourite paradise region, the PAL, short for Pokémon Awakens Love!" There were cheers and clapping from the participants. "Various participants come here from all regions, even the best from our regions participating, making this one of the largest tournaments and one of the most important one of the year!"

"I hope this tournament would be a great experience for each and every one of you, and hopefully maybe even get to know some friends! Do remember the rules and regulations, and make the best out of your time here. Do your best to win as well, because the winner would win a large sum of 1,000,000,000 Pokedollars in cash, a guarantee pass to unrivalled freedom to travel around the world, the title of strongest Pokémon Master, the ability to carry around all your Pokémon at the same time, and the diamond and gold encrusted trophy hand made by Phillip Robinson. Phillip, our Genius Inventor, has also generously offered some of his very own inventions as part of the prize!"

Everyone cheered as Phillip was well-known for his amazing inventions, and he never gives them to anyone. From where he was standing, Phillip waved at the audience.

"For us, it's a great honour to be here as well. I wish to see spectacular battles tomorrow, and hope to see cooperation between trainers should they be paired up together. Pairs would be known tomorrow before tournament starts, so for tonight, have a good rest, and thank you for coming!"

* * *

After the ceremonies, Ash returned to his quarters, ready to change and shower before dinner, when Mewtwo teleported in. He had let him out of the Pokeball earlier because he said he wanted some fresh air.

"Something wrong, Mewtwo?" Ash asked.

_"Bad news, Ash. The five leaders, Giovanni, Maxie, Archie, Cyrus and Ghetsis escaped from prison, along with their most trusted guards this morning. They are coming for you and your Elite. Tell them to stay on guard."_

Ash's expression turned solemn. "Got it."

"Oh and one more thing." Mewtwo said.

Ash looked up. "Yeah, what?"

"I just want to tell you to be careful of the quiet one." With that, he returned to his Pokeball.

Be careful of the quiet one? What does that mean?

Ash shrugged, before going for a shower. He'll think about it later.

**BP: Oh My God, it's the longest chapter I ever posted. I know it's bad, you don't have to tell me. Any questions, ask me though PM. The protagonist is definitely Ash, but can you tell which Elite is the deuteragonist and the Tritagonist?**

**And do review though. Don't criticize me thanks. I received enough of them in real life. And no, none of them are perfect. They have their own flaws, I'll reveal them as the story goes. Now my head hurts from all the writing.**

**Thanks to mysterypink98 for helping out. I'm actually too embarrassed to post this fic. If not for her, I wouldn't even bother posting, because I'm too embarrassed.**

**Gary and Paul will come in the next chapter. Because Ash is busy with preparations, since his region is the host, he has to do his duties before he can see them.**

**P.S: I don't know how to do boarders (hence I use xs to separate scenes). Can someone teach me? Whenever I try to do one and upload on Fanfiction, it always disappears!**

**P.P.S: Please review! :D**


	2. Mysteries in PAL, Tag Battles (Day One)

**BP: Thanks for the reviews, favourites and followers! I hope to get even more this chapter! Sorry I updated late, I was incredibly busy with assignments and lectures, and had almost no time to myself. **

**Thanks mysterypink98 again for teaching me how to do borders! **

**Guess which Elite members are the Deuteragonist and Tritagonist for the story? **

Ash dressed in a navy blue shirt with black pants, before going out to join his fellow Elites. He noticed one person is missing.

"Where's Pakura?" Ash asked his Elites.

"Last time I saw her, she said she wanted to be left alone, as usual." Rosaline said. "She did send out all her Pokémon to eat though." She jerked her head towards the living room, where all their Pokémon were eating. Ash also sent out all his Pokémon for dinner.

Jude rolled his eyes. "Seems to me she doesn't want to be near us or something. Why did they even install the food service in our rooms?" He was irritated by her absence, and no one could blame him for that.

"She even explicitly told us in NO circumstances are we to go into her room without permission from her." Rosaline said. "If not she won't hesitate to give us a piece of her mind."

Ash internally sighed. He wanted to tell the Elites about the prison escape but he'll have to wait since one Elite is missing.

"Nah, I bet she's just busy preparing for the contest thing that our region organized." Ash said, composing himself. There was a contest alongside the tournament too. While the tournament rounds are held in the morning, contest rounds were held in the late afternoon. Pakura is designated to be one of the three judges, alongside Wallace and Fantina.

It works like a Grand Festival in other regions. Whoever wins the contest will get a special PAL Ribbon that allows them to compete in any region's Grand Festival they want, no matter how many Ribbons the winner has won. Which meant that even if this Ribbon is the only one you have, you still can enter the Grand Festival in any region. The winner also earns the right to meet any of the Legendary Coordinators of their choice up close.

"Well, I think it's been one exhausting day." Rosaline said. "So let's eat."

The dinner came in courses. A thick carrot soup, green salad, lamb chops and mashed potatoes, cheese and fruit, a chocolate cake. Although Ash was used to the high quality and quantity of food back in the Plateau, he couldn't help but stuff himself, although unlike four years ago, he had decent manners.

"By the way, what Pokémon are you guys going to use for the tag battle?" Phillip asked, deciding to make some small talk.

"Definitely not our Legendaries." Jude joked.

Phillip shot him a "You don't say?" look, and turned to Ash. "Hey, Ash, what Pokémon are you going to use?"

"I think I'll go with Leavanny, Roserade, and either Mismagius, Togekiss or Feraligatr, depending on the opponent's Pokémon type." Ash replied. "How about you?"

"I'll go with Emolga, Ampharos, and Rotom." Phillip said. "Rosaline?"

"Espeon, Delphox, and Rapidash." Rosaline listed.

"And I'm going with Greninja, Jellicent, and Sableye." Jude informed them. "Whoever our partner is, I hope their type specialty cancels out at least one of our weaknesses."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Rosaline said. "Ash doesn't need to worry, since he has Pokémon of various types, and he doesn't have a type specialty."

Ash nodded. "Good luck to you guys too, although I doubt you guys need it, since I know all of you can make it." The others chuckled at the last comment as they ate their dinner.

"What are you going to do after dinner, Ash?" Jude asked.

"I'll work on Mew's Aura Sphere. It's still a bit shaky."

"Yeah, I think you better work on that too." Phillip shuddered. Nothing disconcerted Phillip more than that uncontrolled Aura Sphere, where he had an unpleasant experience involving one and one of his latest inventions some time back. Hopefully Mew can control its Aura Sphere soon.

* * *

"It's ok, Mew." Ash said, petting the New Species Pokémon. "It's ok if you can't master Aura Sphere today. It requires a lot of concentration of focusing your aura into one spot. You just need practice."

They were at a clearing near a forest, where Ash had been using some trees as target practice for Mew's Aura Sphere. So far, Mew wasn't able to even control the sphere, going out of control and hitting more trees than intended. Currently, he is trying to comfort Mew, who lowered its ears, tail and eyes sadly at the fact that it couldn't master Aura Sphere despite being known to learn all moves.

"**You really think so?"** Mew shyly looked up to Ash.

Ash smiled. "I know so. Lucario, why don't you show Mew how to do it again?"

"**As you wish, Master." **Lucario said. He put his hands together and created a blue ball of energy. Lucario then fired it at one of the trees, incinerating the said part of the tree. **"Mew all you need to do is to concentrate on containing that aura. That's your priority. Start small, and then slowly increase the size of that sphere." **

Mew nodded, and tried again. This time, although it was a very small sphere, it was able to contain it into the desired shape.

"Very good Mew! You're getting there! Try and throw it!" Ash encouraged. Mew obeyed, and there was some impact on the tree.

Ash clapped his hands, along with Pikachu and Lucario. "Great attempt Mew!" He smiled.

Mew rubbed its hand on the back of its head, as if it was embarrassed about the compliment. **"Thank you Ash."**

"I think we better go to bed. Let's have an early night, we have to wake up early tomorrow. We'll practice again later."

Just then, Ash detected aura belonging to 2 people. He returned Mew secretly, and climbed up a tree with his Pikachu and Lucario that is set in a clump of other trees, offering concealment, so he can see exactly who they are while they can't see him and thanks to his physical enhancements (All Elite members possess this), he will most likely be able to hear what the approaching people are saying.

"So, how was the breakfast gathering, Lance?" a girl asked. They were walking through clearing towards the tree Ash was in.

Ash recognized this voice belonging to Clair, Leader of the Blackthorn Gym.

"It's fine. The food's great. It's even better than the food provided in the PAL train that took us here."

Ash remembered those trains. It looks like Phlox, their manager, arranged for transport for the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and the Champions from their regions to PAL. Those trains were high speed models that go at 250 miles per hour, and journeys to their region would take less than a day. There are also chambers that provided a bedroom, dressing area, hot and cold running water, and even fine clothes in drawers. All of them got to enjoy the best accommodations: gorgeous floral arrangements, delectable foods, and lush surroundings. The money everyone earned in PAL is high, especially Hunters, and thus they could afford all these. Usually, only Hunters can use it, but for this tournament Phlox apparently made an exception for their guests.

"We got to know the PAL Elite, and spoke to some of them. I spoke to both Jude and Pakura….Jude only actually. Pakura hardly said a word, and left as soon as she finished her cake, although I tried to get her to stay longer to chat." Lance sighed. "Drake also told me about the Legendary Dragon Duo. Apparently, this is their home region, but something happened and they disappeared five years ago. No one even knows where they are now."

'You got that right.' Ash thought inwardly. 'Not even I know where they are, and what happened to them. No one even know their real names, not even me. Good luck if you want to find them. Rosaline has been trying to solve this case since she became a Hunter, but to no avail.' Pikachu and Lucario, picking up on Ash's thoughts, nodded.

"Speaking of dragons, how is trying to find the people who wiped out the Dragon's Clan Elders and stole their Pokémon?" Clair asked.

"Not very good. I can't seem to find a clue whatsoever on the identity of the culprit or culprits." Lance sighed.

"I still wonder why would someone do such a thing, Lance?" Clair said. "To wipe out the Dragon Clan's Elders, and as if they aren't satisfied enough, they stole the Dragon Pokémon belonging to them and set our town in an eternal blizzard! Not even the Pokémon could clear the blizzard for some reason."

"Although I don't approve of murder, those clan elders were a bunch of mean old hags and geezers anyway." Lance shrugged. "I mean, I saw one of them whipping a Salamence for refusing to use Dragon Breath on a helpless Sentret during training. Whipping a Salamence! And what did they do when they saw me? They-"

"Hold your tongue, Lance." Clair cut his rant off. "I know you carry a grudge against the Elders, but they're still our Elders, so we have to respect them. But who would set our town in an eternal blizzard and let all the Dragon Pokémon half-freeze to death?"

Ash raised his eyebrows. So, every single one of Blackthorn City's Dragon Clan Elders were wiped out? It must have happened between the time he accidentally teleported to PAL and the time he became Champion, since he never kept up with any news while he was training (or on the run from his former friends depending on how you want to look at it) in PAL, except for an occasional gossip or two. Judging by the looks on Pikachu's and Lucario's faces, this must be news to them too.

"Hopefully we can find whoever killed the Elders, or at least find somebody that can reverse this blizzard." Clair continued, as they got closer to Ash's tree.

"We'll just decide what to do with the culprit later….if we ever find the person that is." Lance muttered. They were directly under the tree Ash was at now.

"I have a feeling this region holds our answer to this case." Clair replied. "We just need to find it…perhaps the culprit is closer than we think….could it be that the cursed child put a winter curse to our hometown as revenge?"

"You believe that cursed child rumour?" Lance sounded incredulous. "It had been like 20 years since that rumour, and I personally think it's nonsense that someone, especially a child can be cursed. Knowing those Elders, the child is probably dead by now, poor kid." There was a hint of pity in his voice.

The pair of them walked past the tree, and Ash waited until they are out of sight before jumping down, somersaulting, and landing on the ground safely, followed closely by Pikachu and Lucario.

Ash wondered if the blizzard was caused by an aura user, since Clair mentioned the Pokémon couldn't even dispel it, but shook his head. This is their business, not his, and besides, he already had a lot on his plate without worrying about those two. Besides, Blackthorn City isn't his home, so why would he care? Once upon a time, he might try to probe around, ask questions, and find clues, and charge in to help without thinking about the consequences, but now, he realized sometimes leaving them alone to figure it out is better.

If this is so, why does he feel slightly unnerved? What, or rather, who, is the cursed child they are talking about?

And why does Ash's intuition tells him that Lance was wrong, that the child is still alive?

Ash shook his head again. He'll figure it out later. It's better to think about the current situation rather than to think about what will happen in the future. Besides, it's not his business.

"We should get to bed. We shouldn't meddle in other people's business." Ash said to his Pokémon.

"**Yeah you're right. I'm sure they can handle themselves." **Pikachu agreed.

"**Yes, we better get to bed, Master." **Lucario said.

"Lucario, call me Ash, I already said it like a million times." Ash sighed.

"**Yes, Ash." **Lucario replied. But Ash knew he'll eventually revert back to 'Master'.

He made it to the lobby, and pressed the elevator button, and rode up all the way to the twelfth floor. There's no one in the sitting room, which probably meant that his Elites also wanted to have an early night.

Ash changed into one of the pyjamas provided, and laid in the soft, silky bed, pondering about Mewtwo's words, and the conversation he heard tonight. It seemed to him that there are more mysteries to solve than he initially thought, not just about the five bosses that escaped from jail.

And somehow, he knew he'll be the one to solve every single one of those mysteries.

"What do you think, Pikachu?" he asked his ever faithful friend.

"**I think there are a lot of mysteries going on around since you joined the Elite." **Pikachu said. **"It's just that it wasn't very obvious or we were too busy with our duties to notice until we arrived at the tournament." **

Ash nodded in agreement. "You know, buddy, something tells us that before we can take on the five bosses, we must first figure out what exactly is going on inside before we can take on the outside. For now, let's go to sleep. Night, buddy."

"**Night, Ash." **Pikachu yawned.

Ash nodded, and drifted off to a restless sleep.

* * *

Grey light was leaking through the windows when a rapping on the door roused him.

"Rise and shine, Ash!" Rosaline's voice was calling him to rise. "Today the start of the tournament!" She sounded cheerful and bubbly.

Ash groaned. How does she get so much energy in the early morning? Ash wondered what it must be like in her head, and what thoughts filled her waking hours. She was one of the three Elites (the other two being Jude and Phillip) that had loving families that believed in them that Ash ultimately didn't find in his mother. In fact, as one of the younger Elites, Ash wondered if Rosaline would even leave home if not for the fact that she crossed paths with Pakura, who by that time, was an Elite member. Ash remembered Rosaline only left home to follow Pakura on her journey, although Pakura never invited her along.

'It's nice to grow up in a loving family, but it's heart shattering when they don't believe in you and side with the traitors.' Ash thought bitterly. 'Wonder if I would have as much enthusiasm if my mum still believed in me at that time.'

"Wake up, Pikachu." Ash mumbled, shaking the mouse awake. "Time for breakfast." As the mouse stirred, he staggered to the bathroom, and refreshed himself. He dressed in his standard trainer's clothes, a navy blue shirt complete with a black short jacket, followed by midnight blue jeans and his cap that looked like his first Pokémon cap except the white parts are now black. Of course, it's complete with a hoodie that shadows his face very well. He also put on his fingerless gloves, where on its left glove, a Key Stone was imbedded into it.

Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder and he entered the dining room. As soon as he did, he sent out all his Pokémon to have breakfast in the lounge.

Ash looked to his Elites. As usual, Pakura is missing, but her Pokémon's out here eating breakfast.

"Morning, Ash! Come have a seat!" said Phillip, waving him over. The moment he slid into his chair he was served an enormous platter of food. Eggs, ham, piles of fried potatoes. A tureen of fruit sat in ice to keep it chilled. The basket of rolls set would last a family for an entire week. There's elegant glasses of orange juice, cups of coffee, and cups of hot chocolate. Ash took an empty plate, and filled it with a substantial amount of everything on the table, before starting to eat.

"Is Pakura awake yet?" Ash asked.

"She is. She's the one that woke me up." Rosaline replied, pouring herself a cup of hot chocolate.

"She used the connecting door to get to your room didn't she?" Jude enquired. There were two connecting doors for each pair of rooms. To gain access to two rooms, both of them need to open the connecting door in their own room. Only Rosaline couldn't get into Pakura's room because she always kept her connecting door locked, and only unlocked it briefly to wake Rosaline up, before going back to her room and locking it again. Apparently, she wanted to prevent Rosaline from going into her room via the connecting door.

"Yeah." Rosaline confirmed. "Supposedly it's to keep me out." She looked rather hurt. Why would Pakura do this to her? Hadn't they known each other before she became Elite? Didn't she trust her? The questions were racing though Rosaline's mind.

She was interrupted, however, by the sound of a door opening, and Pakura coming out of her room, dressed and ready to go. She was wearing one of her trainer outfits- an electric blue top with a black skirt, complete with black boots, a light pink jacket and a belt to hold her six Pokeballs. Her hair was loose, and put up in a hairband. As soon as Skitty saw her, she hopped onto her shoulder, and nuzzled her affectionately. Pakura absent-mindedly scratched her under her chin, which made her purr in contentment.

"Morning, Paku." Ash greeted his Leader. Pakura nodded.

"What Pokémon are you going to use today?" Jude enquired.

Pakura looked around at her Pokémon, and pointed to Jynx, Skitty, and Audino.

"You're going to Mega Evolve your Audino, aren't you?" Phillip voiced his suspicion. The PAL Elites were also well-known to use Mega Evolution during battles, and each of them had their Key Stones worn as part of their outfit, while their Pokémon had the appropriate Mega Stones. Jude's one was in the form of a bracelet, Rosaline's a ring, Pakura's one was a charm, and Phillip's one is a stickpin he attached to his shirt.

Once per battle, only a single Pokémon for each Trainer may Mega Evolve, while this is true, another thing about the PAL Elites are, their bonds with every single one of their Pokémon are so strong; they can Mega Evolve their Pokémon anytime, thus bypassing the rule. Ash discovered this loophole shortly after he became Champion, thus he was the first person to Mega Evolve more than one Pokémon when he was battling.

Pakura simply shrugged at them.

"By the way, I have news for all of you." Ash said, since all his Elites are here now.

"Yeah, what?" Phillip sounded curious.

"According to Mewtwo, The five Leaders and their guards had escaped from jail." There were cries of shock from his Elites except Pakura, who stayed quiet. The Pokémon looked up, wondering what the chaos was about.

"Enough!" Ash shouted, trying to calm his three Elites down. They shut up upon hearing Ash shout. "They will come for us, and I want you to have your guard up at all times. You never know when they will attack. That's all." He didn't mention Mewtwo's warning of being careful of the quiet one, because he still didn't know what it meant yet, and wanted to figure this out himself.

"Got it." They said in unison, as they finished their breakfast and joined Pakura in the lounge to start returning their Pokémon back to their Pokeballs (except for those intended to use for battle later), and went to place all of the Pokeballs into their respective rooms, before meeting back in the lounge.

When Ash went back to the lounge, his Elites were already ready and waiting for him. All of them had at least one Pokémon out of their Pokeballs, like Ash: Jude's was Purrloin, Rosaline's was her Espeon, Phillip's was Emolga (previously Iris'), and Pakura's was her Sylveon and a Skitty (previously May's) that was riding on her shoulder and hidden in her hair.

"Come on, let's go." He said, and they rode down the elevator to the lobby, and walked out of the tower to the Arena.

When they arrived, it was empty. They must be the first ones to appear. Ash noticed a huge board full of headshots of people.

"The tag pairings must be out." Ash remarked, as he and his Elite got closer.

Ash scanned the board for his face, and found it somewhere near the top few rows. Next to his face was Cynthia's.

'Cool, I got Cynthia.' Ash thought.

Jude raised his eyebrows at his partner. It was a girl with pink hair that is short and spiked at two ends of her hair. She also had matching eyes, and a patch on her nose. She looked rather young for a Gym Leader.

"Maylene, Leader of the Veilstone Gym in Sinnoh. Specializes in Fighting types." Pakura mumbled, startling them.

"How did you know?" Jude asked.

"She used to travel around and collect Gym Badges with her previous travelling companion before she started Coordinating. Did it only for fun though, since she never registered for any Conferences." Rosaline explained. "I also collected Badges when I was travelling with Pakura, but by that time, she already had all the Badges from Kanto to Unova, so she started collecting Ribbons out of boredom."

"Really? What Badges do you guys have?" Ash asked them.

"Pakura has the Badges from Kanto to Unova." Rosaline answered for her. "While I have the Badges from Johto to Sinnoh."

"Wow! Same as me." Ash exclaimed to Pakura. Pakura stayed silent.

"Ok, whatever, let's see what who are our other partners." Phillip interrupted.

"Hey, you got Flannery, the Lavaridge Gym Leader. She specialises in fire types." Rosaline commented to Jude. "And I got…." She trailed off when she saw who her partner is. "…..the guy who hit on me during the breakfast gathering yesterday. Who did you get, Paku?"

Pakura silently pointed to her picture, and they excitedly looked to where Pakura was pointing.

"Oh! It's the Kanto Elite Leader and Johto Champion!" Phillip said, looking at Lance's picture next to hers.

"Whatever." Pakura mumbled. Who cares what his positions are at this point, anyway?

"Hey, Red." A voice said. Ash turned to see two people smiling at him. The first person had brown spiky hair and black eyes. He was wearing a black polo T-shirt with a brown jacket. He was also wearing khaki pants. The second person had shoulder-length purple hair and black eyes, and he's wearing an outfit similar to his original outfit- a black shirt with a jacket that is predominantly black, but has ultramarine colour in the middle of the jacket and the wrist part of the jacket sleeves over it.

"Gary! Paul!" Ash greeted them enthusiastically.

"Hey, we're here too!" A voice said. Ash looked up to see a boy with black hair and matching eyes wearing his usual green shirt and orange pants. He also wears an orange bandana around his forehead and is carrying his trademark sketchbook. Another was a late middle aged man with grey hair and black eyes. He is wearing his usual lab coat over his red shirt and fulvous pants.

"Tracey, Professor Oak!" Ash smiled.

"Hey, Red. Long time no see. How are you doing?" Paul asked him. "And how is Pikachu?"

"Great." Ash grinned.

"**I've never been better!" **Pikachu gave the peace sign.

"I heard you became the very first Champion of this region. Congratulations, I must say." Professor Oak complimented. "You were amazing in your battle against that Pakura girl. Thanks for sending us the footage of the battles. It was really entertaining."

"You're welcome." Ash nodded. "My win was all thanks to Pikachu here."

"**How modest, Ash." **Pikachu said, earning a laugh from him.

"Who are your partners?" Ash asked.

"I got Candice, the Gym Leader of Snowpoint City." Gary replied.

Paul sneered. "Max Maple. Can't wait to just take out his Pokémon, and win myself." Ash gave him a wry smile.

"Speaking of Max, I heard a Red Satoshi kicked Max Maple's ass last night during a mock battle, is that true?" Gary enquired.

"Yeah." Ash answered. He then told them the story about Max accidentally bumping into him when he and his Elite were trying to get out of the Pokémon Center as fast as possible to avoid conflict, but failed, and he was forced to have a battle so that they would shut up, although he was tired since they were flying during the night just to come here to prepare to welcome the guests.

"Well, that explains why they were complaining about some guy wearing a hood beating Max." Paul shrugged. "Then they came up and tried to ask me if I know about this guy in a hood. Told them to go away, but they persisted, even asking me if I knew anything about their missing Pokémon. Apparently they vanished simultaneously some time back. Who knows what happened to them? I don't know and I don't care. So to make them go away, I had Froslass use Icy Wind on them. You should see the looks on their faces when they were frozen into human popsicles." He concluded, chuckling. They laughed, imagining them as human popsicles.

"By the way, Ash, we got to tell you something." Professor Oak suddenly sounded grim. Gary and Tracey suddenly had solemn expressions on their faces too. Paul had his usual stoic expression. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you earlier, and we wouldn't tell, but Paul insisted that you need to know." He glared at Paul who shot him a look that clearly told Professor Oak he has the right to know.

"What is it?" Ash frowned.

"You see, a few days after you left Pallet Town…" Professor Oak hesitated.

"You mother vanished into thin air. No one could find her." Paul finished bluntly.

Ash froze. Wait, what did they just say?

When his brain finally comprehended Pauls' words, he stood up, looking down on the ground. "I need some time alone to think." With that, he abruptly stood up, and ignoring his friends' calls, raced out of the Battle Arena lobby, followed by Pikachu and Lucario, who are calling for him to wait up.

A pair of amethyst eyes, which were watching him since the reunion started, narrowed slightly, and the owner of those eyes silently slipped out of the Battle Arena after him.

* * *

"**Are you alright, Ash?" **Pikachu asked. They had finally reached the edge of a lake.

"**You ok, Ash?" **Lucario asked

"I'm fine." Ash replied. "It's just….I can't believe they didn't tell me until now. Just…give me a bit of time to think about this." Although he hated his mum for never believing in him and wanting to tell him to give up on his dreams so he could stay at home with her, she was still his mum and she was the person that had prepared his backpack and clothing every time he goes to a new region, telling him to never give up.

Too heartsick or numb to cry, Ash simply stared blankly at his reflection in the water.

'It's been four years….I wonder what happened to her.' Ash thought. He sighed.

"Moping won't do any good." A voice said cuttingly.

Ash looked up, and was surprised to see his ever-stoic Leader, Pakura.

"What do you know, Pakura?" Ash snapped. What does Pakura know anyway? She doesn't keep in contact with her family, and check how they are doing. Although, she, like Ash, did this by choice, unlike Ash, she never even wondered what happened to her family. He remembered the huge arguments she usually have with his other three Elites whenever this issue arises.

Pakura didn't seem fazed by his tone. "I know that when my entire family died, I certainly didn't mope." Pakura answered blandly.

That startled Ash. Wait, what?

"Your whole family died?" Ash asked in shock.

"When I was 15." Pakura said flatly.

"B-But…" Ash spluttered. "Why did you let the other Elites think you never kept in contact with them?"

"Do you really think I need those idiots' sympathy that my family died while they still have theirs?" Pakura looked at him like it was obvious. "I don't like it when all people do is pity and say comforting words whenever they find what someone has been through. It's pathetic really, since words doesn't help the one who is suffering."

Seeing Ash's stunned look, she went up to him, and grabbed his collar. "And you, you came so far, and are you going to give it all up just because you mother is missing? No! You better show those pigs that they were wrong!" She pushed Ash against the tree trunk, letting go of his collar, and Ash hit the tree, and slid down on the ground.

Pikachu and Lucario scampered to his side to check if he is ok.

"**Pakura's right, you know." **Pikachu said with conviction, once he confirmed Ash is fine. **"I know it sounds harsh, but you came so far without them. We are so close into showing them that we're the best. Why show weakness towards someone who didn't believe in you, who listened to that snobbish rival's words?"**

"**And how about us, who ditched our Trainers just to follow you?" **Skitty added, thumping her tail against the floor. **"We followed you because you are not the type to give up on your dreams no matter how many setbacks you faced? We knew you will rise back up despite what they said about you." **Skitty was no longer the ditzy and mischievous Pokémon Ash once knew. Though she kept her cheerful and charming personality, she has improved her teamwork tremendously, and has also a serious and mature side to her under Pakura's care.

"**You have to show them what the results of your training are. I don't want your emotions to affect your performance, and when they find out it's you, they'll just laugh some more." **Lucario nodded, agreeing with Skitty.

Ash looked to the Pokémon and Pakura each waiting for a reply from him. He sighed.

"Yeah, you're right. It's no good to mope, because life always goes on, no matter what happens. We must hold our head up high and prepare ourselves for the future, and not dwell on the past." The Pokémon and Pakura seemed satisfied by his answer.

"**Good, now you know. And life goes on." **Pakura's Sylveon said. **"Let's go back to the Battle Arena."**

Ash nodded, and followed the others back to the Arena, which is by then crowded, as Trainers tried to get a glimpse of who are their partners on the board. Among them were the other regional Elites and Champions. He caught a glimpse of pink highlights in Rosaline's hair, and slowly made his way towards her. By then, however, Pakura has disappeared among the crowd.

"Red! Where were you?" Rosaline demanded. "Gary said you ran off, and we were so worried!"

"I just went to get some fresh air, that's all. Thanks for asking." Ash waved her off. "Besides, Pakura went to find me, and brought me here. Where's Gary and Paul anyway?"

"They are already in the Arena taking a seat. They said they'll come look for you again after the matches end." Rosaline answered. "They said their battles are after lunch break." Due to the many matches, there's a lunch break in between for trainers to take a break. For those who finished their battles in the morning, they can choose not to return to watch the afternoon matches. Which is what Ash and his Elites are going to do exactly, since their battles are in the morning.

"Well, that explains why Pakura wasn't with us just now." Phillip muttered. "By the way, where is she? Wasn't she with you?"

"Er…." Ash turned his head to look for Pakura. Where did she go anyway?

"It's Dragon, not Flying!" An irritated voice rang out.

Ash and his fellow Elites turned to see the source of the voice. It came from Lance, and he's talking to….

"She's over there." Ash groaned, pointing to his Leader.

* * *

Ash checked the schedule of the battles to take place back in the V.I.P Box. "Alright, looks like Phillip's battle is to be commenced first. Next would be Jude, followed by me, Pakura and finally Rosaline. And it looks like I'm against Misty and Brock." He smirked at the last sentence. "By the way, good luck, Phillip."

"Thanks Ash." With that, he left the VIP Box with his Emolga, Flannery and Roxie.

"**He'll be fine." **Pikachu assured Ash.

"It's not Phillip I'm worried about" Ash replied. "It's Trip." He pointed at Phillip and Flannery facing off against Trip and Roxie. Although he knew Phillip and Flannery would win, he hoped Trip and Roxie can get their two wins from two other pairs. He wants to take down Trip himself.

And no one is going to stop him.

"**Oh, I get what you mean." **Lucario growled at the Trip boy. Just then, there were cheering, and Ash spotted the referee, Evan, walking to the middle of one side of the arena.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Evan asked, only to be answered by cheers. "Alright, from the Green side, we have Leader Roxie, and Pokémon Trainer Trip! And from the Red side, we have Elite Phillip and Leader Flannery!" There were louder cheers for the latter pair, mainly for Phillip, their favourite genius.

To Ash, it did not seem like a battle, more like a one sided massacre. Being the third member of the PAL Elite, Phillip is powerful, yes, but to end the match with just his Emolga (with Flannery's help) in a mere 15 minutes is something else as well. It's almost as if their opponents didn't put up much of a fight.

Phillip returned to the VIP Box, and then Jude left with his Purrloin, along with Maylene, Roxanne and Bugsy.

Ash watched blankly as Jude also finished in 15 minutes flat with his Sableye alone, with all three of Maylene's Fighting Pokémon. Ash shook his head. Roxanne and Bugsy didn't really stand a chance against Jude and Maylene….Jude mainly. Since Sableye's a Dark/Ghost Pokémon, it doesn't really have any weakness…except for Fairy. He bet that Jude didn't want to show off his Mega Evolution too early, as Ash noted that he didn't Mega Evolve his Sableye. One-sided battles really gets boring after a while.

Finally, it was his turn.

"So, are you going to go now?" Rosaline asked, when Jude, Maylene, Roxanne and Bugsy returned.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, see you later." With that, he left the V.I.P Box with Pikachu and Lucario, Pikachu hiding in Ash's hood, and walked towards the entrance where he will have to enter the Arena from there.

"Lucario, I want you to watch our matches carefully, alright? This might be useful for training. I know you think you are powerful enough, but there's always room for learning."

"**Got it, Ash." **Lucario nodded.

"**Good luck, Ash." **Pikachu encouraged him.

"So, we meet again...Red." A voice said. Ash wheeled around to see Cynthia smiling at him.

"Oh, hi." Ash greeted his partner.

"So, we're partners. Let's work together to make it to the tournament rounds?" Cynthia held out a hand to shake.

Ash smiled. "Yeah." He clasped her offered hand.

'Once today's battles are over, I'm going to try and find Ash.' Cynthia thought. 'Who knows, he might be closer than I think. Maybe I can ask Champion Red for help.'

Ash, whose face is still hidden, sweat dropped. He had the ability to read others' minds via aura, and can tune thoughts off, however her thoughts are too loud for him to be able to tune it off. He turned away so that Cynthia won't suspect that he inadvertently read her thoughts.

"From the Green side, we have Leader Brock, and Leader Misty!" The two Gym Leaders walked out to the Arena waving to the audience.

"And from the Red side, we have Champion Cynthia, and Champion Red, our Silent Hero!" The crowd cheered louder for the Champions, as they walked out and took their places at the marked spot.

"This will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle, as each Trainer can use three Pokémon. Switching Pokémon is allowed, and the first side to lose all six Pokémon loses." Evan explained. "So Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon."

"Starmie, I choose you!" Misty threw a Pokeball and out came Starmie.

"Steelix, come on out!" Brock summoned his Steelix.

"Garchomp, Battle dance!" Cynthia called out her Dragon.

"Leavanny, lend me your aura!" Ash's Pokeball opened to reveal the thin, yellow, bipedal insectoid Pokémon.

"Eww, eww! A bug!" Misty shrieked, ticking both Ash and Leavanny off.

"**Hey!" **Leavanny exclaimed. **"Bug Pokémon can be useful too!" **

"**Looks like she didn't change." **Pikachu mumbled.

"Leavanny, why don't we humiliate her by taking her Pokémon out in five minutes?" Ash whispered.

"**I can do it in three." **Leavanny replied. **"I'm so going to humiliate her for what she said about you and me!" **

"Battle begin!" Evan brought the red and green flags he has been holding downwards.

"Steelix, use Dragon Breath on Garchomp!" Brock called out.

"Starmie, use Gyro ball on that bug!" Misty commanded.

Ash twitched. That bug?

"**She's so going to get it." **Leavanny growled.

"**Get her, Leavanny." **Pikachu cheered from his hidden position.

"Leavanny, use X-Scissor to deflect the Gyro Ball, and follow it up with Sunny Day." Leavanny used X-Scissor to change the Gyro Ball's direction, and powered up a powerful Sunny Day.

"And look! Champion Red has used Sunny Day! What can he be planning?" The commentator and announcer, Ken asked the question that was in everyone's minds.

"Garchomp! Dodge, and use Flamethrower!" Cynthia commanded. Since Sunny Day is in effect, the Flamethrower is stronger than usual.

"Dodge the flamethrower, Steelix!" Brock called out.

"Starmie, now use Swift!" Misty commanded.

"Use Razor Leaf to counter it." Ash countered calmly. The Razor Leaf overpowered the Swift, and knocked Misty's Starmie to the ground.

"Starmie, get up!" Misty encouraged, or rather, demanded. Starmie slowly, but surely got up.

"Leavanny, use Energy Ball." Ash said. "While it's distracted, you know what to do." Leavanny nodded, and charged up an Energy Ball at a still getting up Starmie.

"Steelix, help cover Starmie by using Nature Power!" The Nature Power turned out to be Tri Attack because the battlefield is a neutral one.

"Garchomp, get in front of Leavanny and use Protect!" Garchomp got in front of a still Leavanny, who is charging up power for another move, and held both its hands out in front of it and a turquoise energy shield appears in front of it, protecting both of them from the Nature Power.

"Thanks." Ash said to Cynthia.

"No problem." She replied. "Garchomp, now use Fire blast on Steelix!"

"Now, Leavanny!" Ash called out. Leavanny jumped onto Garchomp and jumped off it, firing a Solar Beam from above at Starmie. Starmie got hit and it banged against the wall hard, sliding down, unconscious.

Meanwhile, the Fire Blast also directly hit Steelix, knocking it out.

"Starmie/Steelix, no!" Misty and Brock cried out.

"So that's what the Sunny Day was about! It was used to power up the Solar Beam, and it also powered up Garchomp's Fire Blast! Great thinking on Champion Red's part!" Ken exclaimed.

"Starmie and Steelix are unable to battle. The winners are Garchomp and Leavanny. Green side, please choose out your next Pokémon."

Ash checked his CommuniDex's stopwatch function. "Wow, two minutes and forty-two seconds, you really did keep your word, Leavanny."

"**Of course. Do you really think I'll go back on my word like those traitors?" **Leavanny looked at him incredulously, as Misty and Brock sent out Gyarados and Sudowoodo respectively.

"No, of course not." Ash laughed. "Now, why don't we give others a chance?"

"**Whatever you say, Ash." **Leavanny replied as Ash returned him.

"You can understand Pokémon language?" Cynthia asked. She had decided to stick with Garchomp.

"All of us can." Ash answered shortly.

"It looks like Champion Red has decided to switch Pokémon. What would he send out next?" Ken wondered.

"Roserade, lend me your aura!" Ash summoned the Bouquet Pokémon.

"Battle begin!" Evan said.

"Gyarados, use Dragon Dance!" Misty called out. She'll need to raise her Gyarados' Attack and Speed.

"Sudowoodo, let's use Rock Throw!" Sudowoodo slammed its thin forelegs into the ground, making rocks fly towards Roserade and Garchomp.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Claw to slice through the rocks!"

"Roserade, use Petal Blizzard to blow the rock pieces back to Sudowoodo!"

The rocks was sliced through into smaller pieces, and Roserade used Petal Blizzard to blow it back to Sudowoodo.

"Gyarados, use Thunder on the rocks before it hits Sudowoodo!" Gyarados started to charge up a Thunder.

"Oh, no you don't. Garchomp, use Sandstorm to lower Gyarados' accuracy!" Garchomp kicked up a sandstorm just as Gyarados was about to launch its move. It missed the rock pieces, and Sudowoodo was hit, dealing some damage.

"Garchomp, now hide in the Sandstorm and use Dragon Rage on Sudowoodo!" Garchomp obeyed, and it hit Sudowoodo, but Sudowoodo managed to get up.

"While the Sandstorm is on, Roserade, use Toxic Spikes, and blow the Sandstorm away from you using Petal Blizzard again." Roserade threw the Toxic Spikes at the opponents' side while they were obscured by the Sandstorm, and used Petal Blizzard to blow the Sandstorm away from her. Unfortunately, she overdid it a little, and blew the Sandstorm away from everyone.

"Now's our chance, Gyarados! Use Hyper Beam on Roserade!" Misty commanded.

"Use Grass Whistle, Roserade!" Roserade put one of her hands into her mouth and blew on it, producing a soothing melody. The musical notes hit Gyarados, and it fell to the ground, asleep, and the Hyper Beam was fired towards the ground.

"Gyarados, wake up!" Misty called out.

"Leader Misty attempts to wake Gyarados up, but to no avail. Will this be the end?" Ken commented.

"Sudowoodo, use Swagger on Garchomp!" Sudowoodo crossed its arms and looked Garchomp in an intimidating manner while glowing red, causing Garchomp to be confused as its Attack sharply rises.

Seeing that Misty's Gyarados is still asleep, Ash told Roserade to hit Garchomp on the face, since Gyarados can't get in the way. She obeyed, and Garchomp was snapped out of its confusion.

"Thanks, Red. Now, Garchomp, use Surf!"

"Sudowoodo, use Rock Slide to absorb the water!"

The Surf overpowered the Rock Slide, and Surf hit his Sudowoodo, finally fainting it.

"Sudowoodo is unable to battle!" Evan declared, as Brock retuned his Sudowoodo.

"Roserade, use Shadow Ball on Gyarados!" Ash decided to finish this round once and for all.

"Garchomp, use Flamethrower to power up the Shadow Ball!"

The Shadow Ball and Flamethrower combined, and the Shadow Ball glowed with an orange light around it, leaving orange and dark purple trails behind it, as it hit the still sleeping Gyarados, engulfing it in a purplish orange explosion. It could have passed as a Coordinator's appeal in the Grand Festival, as it looked rather pretty. Gyarados had swirls for eyes, indicating it is knocked out.

"Gyarados is unable to battle! Green side, please send out your last Pokémon."

"You lowlifes! How dare you hit a Sleeping Pokémon?" Misty yelled.

"Gee, Misty, do you expect an opponent to wait for your Pokémon to wake up before they strike? This is a battle you know, you can't be like 'Wait! Let's wait for my Pokémon to wake up before we fight!' Battles go on no matter what status condition your Pokémon acquired during battle." Ash replied calmly.

"He's right. Besides, we don't want to waste time, and there are others who want to battle." Cynthia added.

"Alright, Roserade, great job." Ash complimented.

"**Thanks, Ash." **Roserade blushed as she was returned to the Pokeball.

"Togekiss, I choose you!" He sent out the final evolved form of Togepi.

"**So, I get to battle now?" **Togekiss chirped happily.

"Yes, help me take them down, won't you?" Ash grinned.

"**Anything for you." **

"Garchomp I think it's time for you to rest." Cynthia said.

"**Sure thing." **Garchomp said, although only Ash can understand it. Cynthia switched her Pokémon out, and replaced Garchomp with Spiritomb.

Misty snarled at them, and sent out her last Pokémon, Politoed, while Brock sent out his Marshtomp. However, as soon as their feet touched the floor, they glowed purple, indicating they are poisoned. There is also a pressurized expression on them for a second, which meant that Spiritomb is exerting its Pressure.

"What th-?" Misty and Brock shouted in shock. "How?"

'I nearly forgot about the toxic spikes I placed. Oh well.' Ash shrugged.

"It looks like Champion Red's Toxic Spikes are in effect! Champion Red is always one step ahead in battle!" Ken cried, to audience's cheers.

"Ugh, no matter! Politoed, use Hypnosis on Togekiss and Garchomp!" What Misty failed to notice was Politoed seemed to need more energy than usual to execute the move.

"Togekiss, use Metronome!" Togekiss waved its arms back and forth until they begin to glow white, and performed Safeguard, protecting from Hypnosis.

"Spiritomb, use Shadow Sneak!" Spiritomb extended its shadow towards Marshtomp.

"Dodge it, Marshtomp, and use Earthquake!"

"Sorry, Brock, no can do. Togekiss, use Sunny Day to help power up Shadow Sneak!" Togekiss increased the intensity of the sunlight, and caused multiple shadows to appear and stretch out from Spiritomb. Although Spiritomb wasn't able to hit Marshtomp, it unintentionally hit Politoed. Politoed staggered backwards, glowing purple.

"Politoed, snap out of it! Use Scald!" Misty was desperate for this to end.

"Togekiss, counter with Psychic!" The Scald Attack was blasted back to Politoed.

"Spiritomb, use Curse on Marshtomp!" As a Ghost type, Curse works differently. Instead of cutting Speed to raise Attack and Defense, it slowly loses ¼ of its maximum HP at the end of each turn, at the expense of half the user's HP. Spiritomb had a pained look on its face, which meant that its HP has been cut by the move.

Brock gritted his teeth. He only had at most four moves left before Marshtomp's health depletes to zero. Also, there's the Poison condition to consider.

"Marshtomp, use Blizzard!"

"Politoed, use Scald one more time!" Although Politoed was tired from the energy drain and poison, it still charged up a Scald. The attacks combined, and it became water bullets.

"Spiritomb, use Ominous Wind!"

"Togekiss, use Hyper Beam!"

The Hyper Beam was covered by Ominous Wind, and the Hyper Beam was shrouded in purple. The combination was enough to overpower the water bullets, and hit Misty's and Brock's Pokémon. Since they were poisoned and pressurized (and cursed in Marshtomp's case), both of them fainted.

"Marshtomp and Politoed are unable to battle. The winners are Champion Cynthia and Champion Red!"

The crowd went nuts, and was cheering for the winners. Misty and Brock glared at them before returning their Pokémon and left.

* * *

"Oh My God, you were amazing, Red!" Rosaline cheered. "Did you see the looks on their faces when they lost?"

"**You are amazing as usual, Ash." **Lucario said.

"**I'll never forget the looks on their faces for the rest of our lives!" **Pikachu giggled.

"You really think ahead of battles, don't you?" Phillip smiled. His Emolga was also cheering for his victory, along with Purrloin, Espeon, Sylveon, Skitty, Pikachu and Lucario.

"When it comes to Pokémon battle strategies, you're a genius!" Jude pumped his fist in the air.

"Thanks, guys." Ash replied. He turned to his Leader, who was preparing to leave for the Arena.

"Well….good luck." Ash told his Leader.

Pakura nodded, and left the V.I.P Box without another word, Sylveon following her, along with Lance and Whitney.

"I wonder how she would do." Ash wondered to himself, sitting down on the front row seat.

"**She'll be fine." **Pikachu replied. **"Wasn't she the only one who made you use all six of your Pokémon during the challenge? Besides, her partner is Lance, he's pretty strong himself. They practically got the match in the bag." **

"If you say so." Ash said, turning back to watch the match.

"From the Green Side, we have Leader Whitney and the Princess of Hoenn, May!" Ash watched as Whitney and May walked out, waving to the crowd. "And from the Red Side, we have Elite Four and Champion Lance, with Elite Four and our favourite, or at least my favourite…" Here, the audience chuckled, "Princess of PAL, Pakura!"

Lance looked at Pakura strangely. That's her nickname? They walked out to the battlefield, and faced their opponents.

"There can't be two Princesses! There's only one true Princess, and that's me!" May shouted at Pakura. "I'm good at both Coordinating and battling, so watch out!"

Pakura did not even bother to answer back, which frustrated May. She isn't really interested in her opponents, as she had defeated Whitney before during an official Gym Battle years ago. Also, May is not really a good battler, from what she heard from Ash. She just wants to get her battle over and done with, so she can go to do better stuff than stand here and listen to some moron rambling about her 'skills'.

"We'll target the girl. Lance is too strong for us." Whitney whispered. May nodded.

"Trainers, send out your Pokémon!" Evan told the four of them.

"Venusaur, spotlight!" May summoned her Grass/Poison type Kanto starter.

"Delcatty, I choose you!" Whitney called out her Prim Pokémon.

"Dragonite, battle time!" Lance chose his ever faithful partner Pokémon.

"Let's go, Jynx!" Pakura threw her Pokeball, and out came the Human Shape Pokémon.

'Hopefully, Jynx is enough to take their Pokémon out. She's my weakest Pokémon after all.' Pakura thought. She looked down on Sylveon, who was sitting next to her as support. Sylveon nodded to her.

"Delcatty, use Attract on Dragonite!" Whitney cried out. The Attract move is impossible to dodge, and by distracting him, they can take out Jynx. Delcatty winked, and multiple pink hearts flew out towards their opponent.

"Venusaur, use Petal Dance on Jynx."

Before Lance could react, Pakura already gave a command. "Use Attract to repel Delcatty's Attract, followed by Blizzard to counter Petal Dance." Jynx winked, and pink hearts flew out, hitting all of Delcatty's hearts, successfully repelling it. Jynx then charged up a blizzard, and blew the petals back to Venusaur. Since it is part grass, it is super effective.

"Dragonite, use Flamethrower on Delcatty!" Dragonite charged up a Flamethrower, and unleashed it towards Delcatty.

"Dodge it, Delcatty, and use Assist on Jynx!" The Assist turned out to be…..Splash attack. The audience face faulted at that.

"Help Delcatty put by using Poison Powder on Jynx!"

"Dragonite, use Hurricane to blow the Poison Powder away." The Hurricane managed to blow it away, and inflict damage on Venusaur.

"Jynx, you use Frost Breath….try not to hit Dragonite." Pakura added as an afterthought.

* * *

(At the V.I.P Box)

"Is it just me, or are Whitney and May seem to be targeting Pakura only?" Jude asked his Elites.

"**How low of them!" **Purrloin growled.

"Seems to me they knew they can't take on Lance, so that's why they settle for Pakura, since they don't know about her battling skills." Ash replied, as he watched Lance's Dragonite struggling to get an attack on them, only for them to dodge, and attack Jynx again.

'How are you going to handle this, Paku?' Ash thought. He leaned forwards in his seat. This is definitely getting interesting.

* * *

"Delcatty and Venusaur are unable to battle! Green Side, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"Clefable, I choose you!"

"Beautifly, spotlight!"

"Clefable, use Sing!" Whitney called out. Clefable started singing, and musical notes emitted from its mouth.

'I highly doubt Leader Whitney knows that her Clefable is now a Fairy type, since it was a Normal type and she is a Normal type specialist. If only she did her research, she might have first used Disarming Voice, or Moonblast to take out Dragonite, if she wants to target me specifically.' Pakura thought, mentally face palming.

"Beautifly, use Silver Wind to blow the notes to Jynx!" Beautifly flapped its wings and a wind with silver crescents in it hit the notes, increasing the speed of the musical notes going towards Jynx.

"Jynx, use Safegaurd." Jynx's Safeguard was strong enough to cover both Dragonite and her, deflecting the song notes.

'Stop targeting me already.' Pakura thought, mentally sighing, figuring out the opponents' strategy.

"Dragonite, use Hyper Beam!"

"Clefable, Ice Beam to counter the Hyper Beam!" The Hyper Beam, however, overpowered the Ice Beam easily, and Clefable fell to Whitney's feet moments later. Clefable is struggling to get up now.

"Beautifly, use Gust on Jynx!"

* * *

(V.I.P Box)

"This is no longer a tag battle. This is a two-on-one battle!" Steven exclaimed, watching Pakura react to another one of Clefable and Beautifly's attacks directed at Jynx, while simply asking their Pokemon to dodge Dragonite's attacks. "They are ignoring Dragonite, just dodging or deflecting his attacks, and only went offensive for Jynx! Pakura ended up doing all the work!"

"Yeah, what are they trying to do?" Cynthia wondered.

"Who knows?" Alder shrugged. "Maybe because Lance is too powerful, and went for Pakura, since they don't know the extent of her battling skills?"

"Will they ever learn? I thought they figured out by now that Pakura is a better battler than even Lance." Phillip asked in disbelief at the front row seats.

"May isn't one of the smartest unfortunately." Ash replied. 'And from what I heard, Whitney has a tendency to cry and throw a tantrum when she loses. Such a kid. Wait, I'm turning into Iris. I'm not that Dragon Master Wannabe. How should I phrase this? Oh yeah. Quite immature for her age.' He talked to his Pokémon via telepathy, as it would look odd talking to them verbally in front of the other Elites who don't understand Pokéspeech.

Pikachu and Lucario sniggered as they received his telepathy message.

"At this rate, Pakura's going to get angry that Lance is not helping!" Jude cried.

* * *

"Let's end this quickly. Clefable, Ice Beam at Jynx!"

"Help out Clefable by firing a Shadow Ball in Ice Beam!"

"Dragonite, twister!"

"Jynx, fire a Hyper Beam in Dragonite's twister."

The two combined attacks clashed in the middle, and Ash watched as Pakura and Lance's combined attack overpowered May and Whitney's in a short time, and both combo attacks hit Beautifly and Clefable. They were knocked out in an instant.

"Beautifly and Clefable are unable to battle. Green Trainers, send out your last Pokémon."

* * *

(Back to the V.I.P Box)

"There goes Round Two." Shauntal commented. "Just one more to go."

"Pakura can definitely win this with her Jynx alone, although Jynx is her weakest Pokémon." Rosaline said confidently.

"I don't know. It's well known that Whitney's strongest Pokémon is Miltank, and I bet my Elite status that that is her last Pokémon." Phoebe replied with doubt in her voice. Sure enough, when Whitney sent out her last Pokémon, it was a Miltank, while May sent out her Munchlax.

* * *

"There must be a way to hit them even if they keep asking their Pokémon to dodge, but how?" Lance was getting frustrated. "I have to find out a way."

"You know what? I distract them and you hit them when their attention is away from you." Pakura folded her arms.

"Sounds like a plan." Lance answered. "Ok, let's try."

"But be careful of where my Pokémon is before you call an attack."

"Yeah, alright."

"Munchlax, use Metronome!"

Metronome turned out to be Fairy Wind, although only Pakura knew what move Munchlax just made.

"Jynx, dodge and use Psychic, followed by Perish Song on Miltank!" Jynx jumped, and her eyes glow light blue, preventing Miltank from escaping. She then released crimson soundwaves from her mouth at Miltank hitting it. It looked like Miltank wasn't affected once it got hit, but everyone knew Miltank only had three moves before it faints.

"Munchlax, use Shadow Ball on Jynx!"

"Now, Dragonite! Use Aerial Ace on Munchlax!"

"What? Lance, no!" Pakura saw that if Munchlax dodged, it will hit Jynx since Jynx is directly in front of Munchlax, so she tried to stop him, but it was too late.

"Dodge, Munchlax!" Sure enough, Munchlax dodged, and the Aerial Ace hit Jynx on the head, sending her flying, and against the wall. She now had swirls for eyes.

"Jynx is unable to battle!" Evan declared.

"Alright!" Whitney and May hi-fived.

Pakura stared at her fainted Jynx in silence, before returning her to her Pokeball without another word. She turned to her partner with an unreadable expression.

"Before the battle, I said, watch out for my Pokémon's position before you call out an attack. And look what you did." She sighed. "You are really no help, you useless deadweight." The funny thing is, Pakura said this tonelessly, and no one could tell if she is really angry or not.

Lance looked at her, dumbfounded. Did she just call him useless deadweight?

"I'm not useless!" He spluttered, when what she said finally registered. Who calls a Leader of Kanto Elite, Champion of Johto Elite, and member of G-men useless anyway?

"Yes you are." Pakura shot back. "You did nearly nothing to take down their four Pokémon."

"Is it my fault they are aiming their attacks at you?" Lance was ticked off.

"Yes, because you didn't do anything to help, and you even fainted my Jynx when you tried to help. If that's not useless I don't know what is." Pakura replied bluntly.

* * *

There was absolute silence the moment Pakura called Lance "useless deadweight". Most of them, including Ash's Elite, and Ash himself, were stunned. All of them were thinking, 'Wow she is pissed off.'

"Ouch, that's gonna burn!" Will broke the silence by laughing at the new nickname Lance got.

"You got that right!" Lucian was also snickering. Shauntal was giggling as well.

"Well, I can't blame her. I'd be angry too, if my partner who is supposed to help me instead fainted my Pokémon by calling out a move without looking at where my Pokémon is." Wallace remarked.

"Hey! Keep your words to yourself! Lance didn't do anything to harm you!" Aaron shouted to the battlefield. Although Lance didn't hear him, Pakura did, thanks to her physical enhancements.

Pakura ignored him, and was about to say more, when Sylveon's feelers wrapped around her arms, and she sent a serene aura into her. She could almost hear Sylveon's pleas for her to stop. Pakura calmed down, but still frowned at her partner.

"Are you finished, Princess?" Evan asked her, when she fell silent.

"Yes, Evan." Pakura replied calmly, and turned to her opponents. "Now you really made me mad. Come on out." She brushed her hair aside, and her hidden Skitty hopped out onto the battlefield.

"Hey! Is that my Skitty?" May cried out, enraged.

"No." Pakura raised an eyebrow.

"You liar! That is my Skitty, isn't it? Give her back!" May demanded.

"Just because you owned one doesn't mean I can't own one too." Pakura said monotonously. "Skitty, use Play Rough on Munchlax."

May didn't call out an attack, expecting Skitty to have second thoughts, but Skitty attacked Munchlax without hesitation leaving her shocked.

"That's not very nice!" May wailed. She was sure this is her Skitty. How can her Skitty turn against her?

"**You deserved it after what you did to Ash!" **Skitty hissed.

"Dragonite, use Thunder Wave on Miltank to intercept it!" Lance had decided to attack Whitney's Miltank.

"Miltank, use Rollout to dodge!"

"Now! Use Wing Attack!"

"Defence Curl!" The Wing Attack clashed with Miltank's Defence Curl, and managed to slam Miltank to the ground.

"Use Dragon Pulse!"

"Miltank, dodge and use Body Slam on Skitty!" However, as soon as Miltank executed the move, she glowed red, and fell to the ground with swirls in her eyes. Everyone had evidently forgotten that Jynx's Perish Song was still in effect.

"Miltank, No!" Whitney was in the verge of tears.

"Miltank is unable to battle."

"Oh, what's this? Jynx's previous Perish Song is clearly taking effect, which led to Miltank's downfall! Smart move on Pakura's part." Ken commented in the mic. "Oh look! PAL Princess Pakura and Hoenn Princess May are still fighting it out!"

"Munchlax, Solar Beam." May sounded reluctant to hit Skitty, but she is the only one left in the battle.

"Skitty, use Ice Beam on the ground!" Munchlax slipped and misfired the Solar Beam, and Skitty finished it off with Assist, which turned out to be Brick Break, which is Super Effective against Normal types.

"Munchlax is now unable to battle. The winners are Champion Lance and Elite Pakura!"

Whitney, as usual started crying, while May tried to comfort her. Pakura looked at her in disgust.

"Why did you make her a Gym Leader?" She asked Lance.

"I did not, the Pokémon League did!" He protested.

"Well, you could've fooled me, considering how useless you were during the battle." With those parting words, she swept out of the stadium with Sylveon and Skitty, who hopped onto her shoulder, presumably towards the V.I.P Box. Lance stared after her with a mix of surprise and anger. After a few moments, he left as well, not towards the V.I.P Box, but towards the forest he and Clair walked through the previous night.

* * *

Quite the contrary, Pakura didn't return to the V.I.P Box. No one knew where she disappeared off to. However, to the PAL Elites, especially Ash, this isn't unusual, and they knew Pakura always goes away without telling them and would show up later.

* * *

"It's your turn, Rosaline." Ash said. Rosaline stood up, and looked around for Pakura, but no sign of her.

"When do you think she'd turn up?"

"She'll turn up." Ash replied dismissively. "Now just go to your match."

Rosaline nodded, and went to the front of the entrance of the battlefield, her Espeon following behind.

"Hello, girl from yesterday." A voice said behind her. Rosaline turned to Grimsley who is smiling at her.

"Hello, creep who tried to hit on me." Rosaline countered. Espeon took a defensive stance.

Grimsley gave a mock gasp and held a hand to his heart. "You wound me." He replied in a smooth voice.

Rosaline opened her mouth to say something, but the announcer called out, "From Green Side, we have Coordinator Dawn, with Leader Burgh, and from the Red side, we have Elite Rosaline and Elite Grimsley." She then turned, and walked out to the battlefield with Espeon at her side.

"Trainers please send out your first Pokémon!"

"Alright, Mamoswine, spotlight!" Dawn's Twin Tusk Pokémon materialised out of its Pokeball.

"Dwebble, I choose you!" Dwebble appeared next to Mamoswine, battle ready.

"Let's do it, Rapidash!" Rosaline called out her Rapidash.

"Let's fight, Drapion!" Grimsley summoned his Drapion.

"Both side ready?" Evan asked the four of them. All four of them nodded. "Ready….battle begin!"

"Mamoswine, start off with Powder Snow!" Dawn commanded. Her Pokemon started shaking his nose and blue powder came out of it towards their opponents

"Dwebble, use X-Scissor!" Dwebble charged towards them, claws glowing ready to use X-Scissor

"Rapidash, Ember to melt the Powder Snow!" Rapidash opened her mouth and shot round balls of fire at the powder, melting it to water.

"Drapion, use Bite to stop Dwebble on its tracks!" Drapion bit Dwebble on the shell, preventing it from moving.

"Mamoswine, Earthquake to get Drapion off Dwebble!"

"Are you an idiot? Earthquake damages everyone, including your partner! Do you want your partner to be out of this battle?" Rosaline shouted, face-palming.

"Oh yeah." Dawn replied, sticking out her tongue slightly. "Opps. Then, Mamoswine, use Ice Fang on Drapion." Mamoswine charged towards its target, not caring about anything else.

"Rapidash, help Drapion out by using Flamethrower!" Rapidash used Flamethrower on Mamoswine. Mamoswine, not seeing the Flamethrower, got hit, and fell down with burns all over its body.

"What's this? It looks like Rosaline used the opportunity to use Flamethrower while Mamoswine is distracted. Sneaky move on her part." Ken commented.

"Drapion use Crunch!" Drapion used Crunch on Dwebble, dealing damage. Drapion then threw Dwebble next to a still getting up Mamoswine.

* * *

(VIP Box, 5 minutes later.)

Ash watched as Rosaline ordered Overheat and Grimsley telling his Pokémon to use a Thunder Fang, easily taking out Mamoswine and Dwebble respectively.

He heard Evan announce that Mamoswine and Dwebble are unable to battle and requested for Dawn and Burgh to send in their next Pokémon, and they sent in Quilava and Leavanny respectively. Rosaline switched to Delphox, and Grimsley changed to Bisharp.

"**Rosaline sure is doing well." **said Lucario.

"**She certainly is." **Pikachu replied, leaning out to see the match better.

Ash felt a sudden unease prickling at the back of his neck, and turned to see Cynthia staring at him instead of at the match. She had her eyes slightly narrowed. He then noticed one horrifying thing- the tip of Pikachu's right ear is sticking slightly out of his cloak.

'Pikachu, just come out.' Ash sighed. 'Cynthia saw your ears.'

Pikachu sighed, and hopped out onto Ash's lap, surprising many of the other Elites.

"You have a Pikachu?" Lorelei asked.

Jude and Phillip exchanged "Uh-oh" looks.

"Oh yeah." Ash replied, petting it. "I like keeping it out of my Pokeball, and I want to keep it as my secret weapon in the tournament, that's why it's been hiding. Looks like my secret's out though." He chuckled at the last sentence.

The others nodded, satisfied at his answer.

All but one Sinnoh Champion that is.

'Why does that Pikachu have a familiar air about it?' She thought. She'll get to the bottom of this.

* * *

'The mist is so thick! I can't see a thing!' thought a certain Johto Champion. He sighed, knowing he had walked too deep into the woods, and now he's lost. 'And it's really cold here!' He wrapped his cape tighter to him.

Something caught his eye among the mist. He squinted- and saw the entrance of a cave.

"Well, it's my best chance." Lance muttered to himself, taking his steps towards the entrance. There was a voice, not his, that told him to stay away, but something about this cave drew him closer, drowning out the foreign voice in his head.

He entered the cave, and raised his eyebrows. It was much larger than it looks outside, and it could have passed for a living space, for it had a campfire in it, a sleeping bag, a table that looked like it was used for making herbs and storing first aid items on, another table that were laden with cakes and bread, a work table that had tools on it, a sewing station, a few target boards that had arrows and knives stuck to it, a well for water, an oven, some plants that grows berries and fruits, and various other necessities. Leaning to the side of the cave was a hot pink bicycle, and next to it was a black bow with a few sheaths of arrows.

There were light footsteps, and Lance found himself staring at a familiar Pokémon. The Pokémon had slender legs and dainty paws and has lilac fur. Its ears are large, and it has purple eyes with white pupils. There are tufts of fur near its eyes, and a small, red gem embedded in its forehead. It also has a thin, forked tail. At first he thought it was Rosaline's Espeon, but remembered she is at the VIP Box back at the Battle Arena, and this Espeon is bigger than hers.

The Espeon narrowed its eyes at him, and ran back to where it came from. Lance looked on in confusion, and the next moment, he was slammed against the cave wall, and something cold and sharp was pressed against his throat.

"Tell me how you got here right now!" The person hissed, pressing the sword against his throat.

"Was I intruding? I'm sorry. It's just that I was drawn to this cave, despite the voice in my head telling me not to enter." Lance knew he sounded stupid to the person right now, but surprisingly, the person lowered the sword.

"Oh really? You were drawn to the cave?" The person's voice softened considerably, stepping back from him. Lance took this opportunity to look at the person's full profile, and realised the person was female. The female had long black hair cascaded down her back with bangs covering her eyes, so he could not tell her eye colour. On her head was a platinum tiara, decorated with various jewels, such as rubies, emeralds, sapphires, pearls, topaz, amethyst, and diamonds.

She was wearing a red off the shoulder formal gown, with a pale red sash around her waist, and the sash was decorated with gold dragons. The extra cloth in front of the bottom part of the gown was also decorated with draconic patterns. On her neck was a black choker with a gem embedded into it. When Lance examined carefully, a drawing of Latias and Latios could be seen at her choker, with the gem in between them.

"I apologize for the sudden attack I sprang on you." The girl curtseyed. "Espeon told me there was an intruder, and my first instinct was to attack. Allow me to introduce myself. People didn't use my name at all, since they called me the Dragon Princess."

"That's alright….wait? Dragon Princess? The Legendary Dragon Princess?" Lance asked, eyes wide.

Princess nodded.

"It's an honour to meet you, Princess." Lance bowed to her. "I'm Lance, a Dragon Trainer from Blackthorn."

"Oh no, the pleasure's mine, considering you're the Kanto Elite Leader and the Johto Champion." Princess smiled at his astonished look. "Follow me." She beckoned to him, and led him to a small table and a few chairs.

"Sit down, I'll be back." Princess instructed warmly, before moving away.

Lance looked around, and found himself in a company of various Pokémon, which are currently sleeping. He recognised most of the Dragon and Psychic Pokémon, but there are other Pokémon which he did not even recognise.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Two cups of tea and a plate of chocolate chip cookies were set on the table. "Drink up. The mist must be cold."

Lance thanked her, and sipped his tea, which warmed him up and ate a cookie, which was really tasty.

"I'm sorry. I was a bit surprised you managed to get in my cave. Usually, only true Dragon masters can see my cave through this mist. However, the mist also contains strong psychic power that compels anybody who can see it to ignore it. And yet, you didn't. I'm impressed."

"Wait a minute, that was psychic power?" Lance asked, surprised. Princess nodded.

"By now, you must have figured out I specialise in Dragon/Psychic Pokémon, and I love them very much. I believe the Psychic power helps me in my Dragon training, hence my Psychic specialisation." She sat across from him. "So, what brings the Leader of the Kanto Elite, and Champion of the Johto Elite to my humble abode?" Princess asked.

"Well, I had an argument with someone and had to calm down." Lance mumbled.

"Really? Tell me about it." Princess coaxed gently.

Lance didn't know why but he started pouring out what happened during the first match to a person he just met, and the part that Pakura called him a useless deadweight because he couldn't help that both opponents were targeting her and how he used Aerial Ace on Munchlax but dodged, hitting Jynx instead, fainting it, which caused her to start calling him useless deadweight. He also added that she couldn't even get his type specialty right, thinking he was a Flying-type specialist.

Princess listened to all these without interrupting, only occasionally sipping her tea or munching a cookie.

"I can see why you are angry about all this." Princess said, once he had finished. "It's natural of course, for a person to be angry when both opponents are targeting one person, which is a coward's way I might add, and the partner isn't helping much. That's how Pakura probably must feel when she fought those girls. The anger accumulated, and your Aerial Ace fainting her Jynx is most likely the last straw."

"I know, I tried to help her, but it all went wrong!" Lance protested.

"I'm not saying what you did is wrong. It's an accident after all." The Princess continued calmly. "I'm just saying, the person can say or do rash things out of anger. Hence, your new nickname. As for your Pokémon, from the rumours I hear, you own more Flying Pokémon than Dragon, hence her 'mistake'." The way she emphasized on the last word, Lance knew that she suspected Pakura made this mistake on purpose.

Lance stayed silent. She had a point there.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Princess enquired.

"I guess I'm going to try to work with her. There's at least one more match we have to win before we can get to the Top 128. After that I'll avoid her."

"Whatever suits you, I suppose." Princess shrugged. "I can't tell you what to do, I can only advise you.

"Some Princess she turned out to be. How did they differentiate you from her, since both of you are called Princess?" Lance was confused at this.

"Simple. I disappeared, she didn't. So when they call Princess, they are referring to the one that didn't disappear. If they were to address me, they simply say 'The Legendary Dragon Duo', since we both disappeared at the same time, but of course only you know I'm still here."

Lance finished his tea, and took the last cookie. "I see. I better go, there are still a few matches going on and I want to watch it. Can I come again?" Although he spent only a very short time here, he took a quick liking to this place and he still had many things he wanted to ask her.

"If you want to you can, in the condition you keep me a secret." Princess replied dismissively. "I'll teleport you back to the Battle Arena."

* * *

"Delphox, use Fire Blast on Leavanny!" Rosaline commanded.

"Bisharp, finish Quilava with Aerial Ace!"

Both the attacks finished the tired opposing Pokémon off.

"Quilava and Leavanny are unable to battle!" Evan declared. "Trainers, please send out your last Pokémon!"

"That was pretty quick. It only took 4 moves each from those two." Jude remarked.

"Togekiss, spotlight!" Dawn sent out Princess Salvia's former Togekiss, while Burgh summoned his Whirlipede.

However, something unexpected happened. The moment Togekiss was sent out, it snatched her Pokeball away from Dawn, and flew away, presumably to Princess Salvia, forcing Burgh to fight himself, since the referee declared Togekiss unwilling to battle. Ash knew that Togekiss most likely found out of the betrayal, and was waiting for the right time to leave Dawn at the most humiliating timing, which succeeded because Dawn was close to tears.

Even Grimsley and Rosaline appeared startled at Togekiss' sudden exit.

Ken announced his shock about the turn in events over the microphone.

"What happened?" Lance entered the VIP Box. He had landed outside the Battle Arena when the Dragon Princess Teleported him out of the forest.

"Woah, where were you?" Bruno asked. He looked considerably calmed down from half an hour earlier. Some of the Elites and Gym Leaders hid their laughter behind their hands as they remembered his new nickname.

"Taking a walk." Scanning the Box, he saw that Pakura isn't there.

"Ok, where is she?" He didn't really want to say her name.

"Like you, Pakura didn't return to the VIP Box after the match." Sidney shrugged. "Who knows where she is now."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry if I were you." Phillip spoke up. "She's always like that, going somewhere without telling us." He turned back to watch Rosaline and Grimsley easily finishing Whirlipede when Delphox used Mystical Fire on Bisharp's Metal Claw, turning the attack to a fire type, and slashing Whirlipede with it.

"Whirlipede is unable to battle! Elites Grimsley and Rosaline wins!"

"It looks like Burgh was overwhelmed by the combined power of two Elite members!" Ken announced. "With this in mind, Elites Grimsley and Rosaline now need one more win to enter the Top 128!"

Dawn quickly exited the field to get away from the humiliation of the loss of her Togekiss.

* * *

"Huh? She's not back yet?" Rosaline asked disappointedly, as she entered the VIP Box with Grimsley and Burgh.

"Unfortunately, no." Ash confirmed.

Shortly after, Ash received a message on his CommuniDex. It was Pakura. She had sent over a video.

'Wonder why she would send me a video?' Ash thought, beckoning to his Elites so they could go to one corner and watch.

(Video Play)

"_I can't believe that Elite girl stole my Skitty! That corrupted bitch! I swear I'll make her pay! How did she become Princess of PAL when she's corrupted is beyond me!" May was ranting to Trip, Iris, Max, Brock, Misty and Cilan as she tried on her dress for the upcoming PAL Contest. She was convinced that it was her Skitty. They apparently left to go there following Dawn's defeat to get new outfits for May and Dawn, and most likely to cheer the latter up at the same time, since Iris and Cilan aren't scheduled to fight until after lunch break. _

"_I know, and I suspect the other Elites may have our other missing Pokémon too. Especially that Phillip guy, he has an Emolga. It could have been mine for all I know." Iris agreed. "We got to have a plan to steal them back. Am I right Dawn?" She turned to Dawn, who was glumly reading a magazine at one of the couches. _

"_Huh?" Dawn looked up. "Oh, yeah." She looked back down at her magazine. _

_Brock went to comfort her. "Hey, cheer up. Maybe you can shine like a star in the Contest." _

"_Not if I can say about it." May said good-naturedly, and Dawn forced a laugh, looking down at her magazine._

"_No, this won't do." May continued, looking at the latest dress in the mirror. "What should I try on next?" _

_Then, a dress a headless mannequin was wearing caught her eye. It was the softest blue imaginable, and was covered all over in sparkling blue beading. It was off the shoulder with a sweetheart neckline, and the filmy skirt reached just below the knees. _

_May gasped. This dress is the most beautiful she had ever seen, and it was practically made for her. It would definitely fit her like a glove. _

"_Excuse me, can I try on that dress?" May asked the store clerk, pointing to the blue dress. _

"_Sorry, that dress is reserved." The store clerk replied. _

"_What do you mean reserved?" May demanded. _

"_It's reserved for one of the judges for the PAL Contest. I apologize, but this is not for sale." The store clerk answered as best as she could. _

_May huffed, and went to the other racks, and grabbed random dresses, before dragging Dawn to standing position, and pushing her towards the dressing room. "Stop moping and select a dress already!" Dawn looked uncertain as she went in the dressing room with the bundle of clothes. _

"_About our Pokémon, we first see what Pokémon that was same as our missing ones do they own, and once we do, we expose them with evidence, and they would most likely lose their positions, and we might get them back!" Max suggested. _

"_Besides, I don't like that Red Satoshi's attitude, anyway." Trip said. _

"_Yes! His attitude stinks!" Misty shouted, causing the salespeople in the store to shush her. _

"_Yeah, good idea. Do you think we should look into the Pokémon type that our missing Pokémon has, and see which Elite specialises in that type?" Cilan spoke up. "It's most likely that the Pokémon went to the respective type specialty of the Trainer." _

"_Great idea, Cilan!" May clapped her hands in glee. "And once I get my Skitty, Glaceon, and Blaziken back, they are most likely more powerful than ever, and I might win more contests and battles in the future! Maybe they'll ask Pakura to give up that Sylveon to me too, that Pokémon is really cute and beautiful." May sighed in her daydream. _

_The others made noises of assent. They assigned roles, where Misty and Brock to observe Red, Trip to spy on Phillip, Max to check on Rosaline, Iris and Cilan to watch Jude, and May and Dawn to follow Pakura. _

(End Video)

The video was attached with a message.

_If it wasn't for the fact that my personal stylist asked me to go over there to prepare for my appearance at the PAL Contest, I wouldn't even bother going to the same place as those vermin. Thought you'd might like to see this. –Pakura._

"Well, at least we know where she has been." Jude remarked.

"So they are trying to find out what Pokémon of theirs we have, and steal them, right?" Phillip whispered.

Rosaline nodded. "They are not sure if it's their so they would try to find out our full team, and piece two and two together."

Ash sighed. Would those traitors ever learn?

"**What do you think we should do?"** Pikachu asked.

"Honestly? That's just a minor worry." Ash mumbled. "If I'm right, something will happen to them before they can even act on their plan."

"Guess so. Oh well, let's just go for lunch."

A pair of grey eyes watched the PAL Elite, and the owner of those eyes secretly went to follow them, specifically Red, ignoring Alder's invitations for a meal or at least a cup of tea.

* * *

"Max? Where did you place the hotel keys?" May demanded. All of them were standing outside their hotel rooms, locked out because their hotel keys were missing. They planned to go to their rooms and order Room Service.

"I swear they were in my pocket!" Her brother protested, searching desperately for the keys.

"If we don't find the keys, the concierge is gonna kick us out!" Cilan warned him. "Remember what he said?"

Max sighed. "I know. He said that the keys are expensive to make, and he's only lending it to us for free since we are tournament participants, so if we lose one key, we either pay the cost of a replacement key, which we can't afford, or we get kicked out, and we'll have to live in the Pokémon Center rooms."

"I'm hungry." Iris whined. Trip rolled his eyes.

"Just hurry up and find the key! We're wasting time!" Misty yelled. She isn't in a particularly good mood since the battle with Red and Cynthia.

* * *

Unbeknownst to them, those traitors are definitely going to have to reside in the Pokémon Center rooms.

"Good job, Klefki." A voice said. The owner of the voice was smirking.

"**No problem." **Klefki replied.

On her owner's hands were four hotel keys.

**BP: Ok, a lot of explaining needs to be done here. (Please read this)**

**Why I let Ash overhear the conversation between Lance and Clair is because Ash would be the one to find out who exactly killed the Dragon Clan's Elders and set an eternal blizzard to Blackthorn City. (No, it's not like Elsa's winter in Frozen. It's a severe snowstorm, much harsher than a simple winter, and who ever set this did it on purpose instead of being an accident, and unlike Elsa, this person can control his/her ice powers well. Why I chose a blizzard weather? It's because Dragon is weak to ice. Yes, the person who did this held a grudge against Blackthorn City.)**

**I'm also not very forgiving towards traitors, especially if one is their own family, but since my friend (mysterypink98) doesn't think of her as all bad, we thought of a compromise- she disappears, leaving her fate as ambiguous. Ash wasn't told because they don't want Ash's emotions to affect his abilities as he took on the Elite challenge. Second, when he became Champion, he became way too busy and had no time to talk to them properly until the tournament. **

**Why I gave referee and announcer names is because I don't want them to be called "the referee" or "the announcer" all the time. **

**Since Ash is the main character, only his battles are shown in full. The glimpses of the two other Elites (Pakura and Rosaline) are only the parts Ash found interesting while watching their matches. If you want full battles for a specific character form next chapter onwards, please tell me in PM. **

**The Dragon Princess scene is originally supposed to be happening off screen/deleted scene, but my best friend wanted it to happen in the story itself, that's why I put it there. Please don't say it's nothing to do with Ash. I admit, for now it doesn't, but eventually, Ash would get involved, and find out the actual fate of the Dragon Duo, and why they disappeared. Why I chose Lance to meet the Princess would be explained in later chapters. I don't know if I should write anymore scenes like this, since this is going to be regular. If you guys didn't like it, I won't write it again in future chapters. **

**The Dragon Princess' real name would remain a secret until later. No, Ash is not part of the Dragon Duo. **

**Pakura is called the Princess of PAL is because of the way the PAL citizens view her as. How they view her would be revealed in later chapters. Why she is seemingly apart from the other Elites would also be known later. Sad to say, she preferred doing things by herself rather than working with others….and that includes even her own Elites, which means she already saw Lance as a burden even before the match has started, but did not say anything until her Jynx fainted due to a missed Aerial Ace on his part. **

**So as not to confuse readers, Pakura's nickname would not be used when mentioning the Dragon Princess, and vice versa. **

**Tag Pairings were decided for some, and others, I picked names while I closed my eyes, and whoever's name my finger landed on was the partner. **

**And since I'm not very good at writing long battles (I never wrote Pokémon battles before), that's why most are pretty short. Don't worry, I'll try to write longer ones as the tournament goes by, since the battles are likely to be more intense. **

**Why didn't I let Dawn's Togekiss defect to Ash? Well, the reason is simple: as much as I like Dawn's Togekiss, I can't exactly see her battling, her grace is more like contest-only, and so I let her return to Princess Salvia (since it's originally hers) at the most humiliating timing- during battle in front of everyone. Besides, I already let Ash have his own Togekiss that is more interested in battle. **

**For the mysteries revolving around PAL, somehow, Ash would get dragged inside, and as Champion, will be forced to find out who caused all these and why is the person causing them. **

**I'm sorry if the TR trio (JJM), and Paul, Gary and Tracey aren't getting their share of spotlight. I promise I'll work on that, because they are major supporting characters instead of being the deuteragonist, and tritagonist, these two roles belonging to two of the PAL Elite. **

**The traitors would probably pry to find out who Red really is, but whether or not they succeed remains to be seen. **

**And Cynthia would definitely find out Ash's secret by the next chapter, latest chapter 4. Tell me when you want the secret to be revealed. She'll definitely have more spotlight next chapter. I'm also sorry that she didn't have much lines in this chapter. I'll do better in the next, I promise. **

**The Pokémon Ash has would definitely have more spotlight next chapter too, and have lines. I'm sorry that they didn't have any lines (except Mew), because the only time all Ash's Pokémon were out were during mealtimes, so I'll do my best to have a scene where Ash is training all of them or something during lunch break next chapter. I sincerely apologize for this part. **

**Yes, this is definitely Ash x Cynthia story. I'm not going for Harem because I'm never good at writing those. Whether the other PAL Elite members get love interests remains to be seen, though you are welcome to give me suggestions to who the Elites should have as love interests. **

**Yeah, as usual, mysterypink98 wants me to post this, but I'm really unsure about posting it, since I wrote everything. So, I'm posting it for her, and for those who liked the first chapter, because I'm too embarrassed about my writing skills. **

**I wonder if I should have Ash's (formerly Dawn's) Buneary outside her Pokeball in the next chapter, and if I should make them a couple. I mean, in the games, Buneary and Pikachu are both in the Field Egg Group, and therefore they can breed. Tell me what you readers think! And sorry for her for not having any spotlight so far, since Ash keeps her inside her Pokeball so that Dawn doesn't see her with him, but Pakura and Phillip may have just raised the traitor's suspicions that they have their Pokémon (albeit by accident). **

**Any questions, just drop me a PM. **

**I wish all my dear readers a Merry Christmas! As a gift, I made a new cover page featuring the PAL Elite members. Please tell me what you guys think of it.**

**I know this chapter is pretty bad, and I think so too, but….**

**Please review! I love to know what you think.**


	3. Prophecy, old friend, exposed, Date?

**BP: Thanks for all the reviews and favourites and follows! I hope to get even more this chapter. I hope my dear readers can also give me suggestions to how I can write the next chapter, I value my readers' opinions. **

For the PAL Elite there are other problems, besides the traitors planning to follow them and take their Pokémon. The number one fear of all celebrities.

The paparazzi.

Now why are they the number one fear? The reason is simple. They follow you around, taking your pictures without permission, asking incessant questions, and use all means to find any information about you, and post it on the newspaper of magazine. Basically, with paparazzi around, you have zero privacy, because they will never give you that.

Which explains why all of them (sans Pakura) are running towards the Battle Tower, where they will be safe, chased after by paparazzi shouting questions to them, especially Ash, since he's considered to be the most mysterious Elite, alongside Pakura. Pikachu is struggling to get a grip on Ash's shoulder, and Lucario is trying to catch up to Ash's speed.

Phillip fell behind to use his power to disable all the electronic devices carried by the paparazzi. One of Phillip's abilities is to activate and deactivate various mechanisms, both electronic and biological within a certain radius. Within the radius, he can select specifically which devices to activate or deactivate, which in this case, he's selecting to deactivate the reporters' cameras and microphones.

While they were distracted by trying to figure out what's wrong with their equipment, the PAL Elites took a run for the doors, and they quickly closed the Tower doors in the paparazzi's faces with the combined efforts of Rosaline and Ash's telekinesis. They were sure they had shaken the reporters off, since they had given up staking out the Tower, due to the fact that in the past, Pakura and the other three Elites would constantly water-balloon bomb them from above as a game. They have gotten soaked one too many times with Pakura's expert aim.

"That was definitely close." Phillip gave a sigh of relief, clutching to his Emolga.

"Indeed." Ash muttered. Pikachu is regaining his balance on Ash's shoulder.

"**The other region reporters must have come over to cover the Pokémon World Championship, the biggest event of the year, that's why they are chasing us, since you are the host region's Elite Four." **Lucario said.

"You could be right." Ash mumbled. "Jude, would you do a quick check upstairs if there's anything for us?"

Jude nodded. "Yeah, sure." He went up the elevator alone, while the others waited downstairs.

(10 minutes later)

"That's weird. What's taking him so long?" Ash asked. "I only said to do a quick check."

"I think something happened to him. Let's go." Phillip suggested.

They went up the elevator, and entered their quarters, only to find that it is empty, except for the huge pile of letters in the sitting room. Jude's Purrloin is sitting near the letters, looking at the pile in concern.

"**Are you ok, Jude?" **Purrloin asked.

"Jude, where are you?" Rosaline shouted, since he had to be somewhere near the pile.

"Over here." A muffled voice was heard from under the pile of envelopes.

"He's buried under the pile of letters!" Phillip covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"Very funny Phillip." Jude said from under the letters. "Get me out of here!"

It took both Ash and Rosaline's telekinesis to get the pile of letters off Jude, shortly after the elevator dinged and Pakura stepped in the quarters. Apparently, her stylist let her off for lunch break. She watched impassively as Rosaline and Ash finally got all the letters off Jude.

Jude got up from the carpet and dusted himself off. "Yup, as usual, we have fan mail."

* * *

'Hmm….it looks like Red went up the elevator. But why would he send Jude up first to check if there's anything for them?' Cynthia thought, pacing the lobby. 'Come on, Cynthia, think.' She thought back on them running from the paparazzi, and Red asking Jude to go up to check if there's anything for them.

'Now why would he send Jude alone instead of going up together? Are they afraid of something? If so, what?' Cynthia eliminated the possibilities of pests since the penthouse is one of the cleanest places she's been in. 'Could it be connected to the paparazzi chasing them around?'

Cynthia remembered that each PAL Elite is famous for something else, other than being Elites, which of course led to more fame, and more fans….

That's it! Cynthia finally figured out there might be fan mail for the PAL Elites, and they send one up because they don't want to be 'attacked by mail'. Better one than all of them, and most likely, they'll check the mail out first before doing anything else.

Knowing fan girls who often sell themselves short just to get their idols' attention, they'll send pictures of themselves, and may send ones that make them sick, thus it may deter them from lunch, and hopefully, do something else during the lunch break, and eat later. Hopefully some of them would come down to do their stuff.

And maybe Red would be one of them.

She'll just have to wait and see.

* * *

Pakura threw the last envelope to the ones with Phillip's name on it.

"Ok, I sorted them." She told the other Elites, pointing to the five different piles. "Just look for the ones with your name on it."

"Thanks, Pakura. Er…whose is this?" Ash asked, pointing at one of the envelope piles that had actually reached the ceiling.

"Oh, that's mine." Pakura waved dismissively.

"Well, you are the most popular Elite." Jude replied, with a hint of envy in his voice.

"Isn't surprising, is it? After all, she's the Princess. She practically rules PAL." Rosaline said, earning herself a glare from Pakura.

"It's just a nickname." Pakura said darkly.

"Not to the public. They think you are really PAL's Princess." Rosaline chirped. Pakura gave her a look that clearly told her to shut up or she'll really get it.

Ash shrugged, before going to the pile with his name on it, and started looking through his letters. There were a few creepy ones from fangirls proposing marriage, some requesting to take off his hood, and some sincere ones as well. Some also attached pictures of themselves along with the letters. A few made Ash blush, and he hastily closed his eyes and stuffed them back to the envelopes. How could the girls sell their dignity like this! Pikachu and Lucario looked away as well, whistling innocently. Ash gave them a mock glare.

Phillip sighed, and placed his hands on Ash's head, manipulating his brain electrical signals so that it erased the images from his memories. Even when the memories are erased, he still had this nauseous look on his face, though it was mixed with a look of gratitude.

"Happens all the time, Ash." Phillip said, looking at his face. "The way you act, it's as if it's the first time you opened fan mail." Emolga giggled beside him.

"Well…." Ash stuttered. He daren't tell Phillip that back at the Plateau, he made Pakura handle all his mail, while he did his paperwork, so it IS the first time he's opening fan mail. Said person must've known it too, for she shot him a sharp look, before turning back to her pile of fan mail. Ash noticed that her mail included job offers from modelling agencies and various nightclubs as well, which she didn't even look at. Sylveon was helping her straighten out her unwanted mail, while Skitty is playing around with the discarded mail.

"It's the usual stuff." Rosaline sighed. "You thought by now they'd know we don't do dates with fans or strangers." She watched Espeon use Psychic to put the unwanted mail into a neat stack with mild interest.

Ash couldn't help but think that Grimsley, the Unova Elite member, couldn't seem to take his eyes off Rosaline during the tag battle, but Rosaline was too focused on the battle to notice, and made a bet that he'll ask her out by the next day.

"Well." Jude said, carrying the unwanted envelopes in his arms. "Let's throw the unwanted mail into the fireplace."

"Yeah, sure." Ash replied absent-mindedly. They placed the unwanted mail into the fireplace, and Ash nodded to Rosaline.

"You know what to do." He said, as she shot flames from her hands into the fireplace. To make sure the fire doesn't get too big or the smoke doesn't engulf them, Ash placed a psychic barrier in front of the fireplace.

"I lose my appetite looking skimming through all those pictures from fan mail." Jude sighed. "We should've eaten lunch before we did that."

"Not exactly." Phillip remarked dryly. "If we did, what we really think may end up all over the carpet."

"True." Ash said. "Let's just do our own stuff to get our mind off that, and then have lunch."

Pakura nodded. "Yeah, I got lots to do anyway." She then left for the elevator with Sylveon and Skitty.

"I'll just work on my new invention at the rooftop garden. See you." Phillip mumbled, leaving to his room with Emolga.

"I'm going to draw a few pictures, and work on the Legendary Dragon Duo's case while I'm at it." Rosaline left for her room as well, with her Espeon.

Jude mentioned something about running his Connoisseur shop, and took Purrloin with him, which left Ash to decide that he'll have a downstairs Pokémon lunch and training.

He grabbed the Pokémon food and all his Pokéballs, and went down via the elevator with Pikachu and Lucario.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being followed by a Sinnoh Champion, who was patiently waiting downstairs for him ever since he went up the elevator.

'I know you are hiding something, Red.' Cynthia thought. 'And I will find out what it is.'

* * *

Unaware of his new follower, Ash went out into the garden that is leading to the forest.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Pikachu, Lucario?" Ash asked.

"**Definitely." **Pikachu replied, while Lucario merely nodded. Just as they responded, he heard a rustling noise above them.

Ash suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that?" Despite the rustling noise being soft, he can hear it with his enhanced hearing.

Pikachu and Lucario nodded. Since Pokémon has more sensitive hearing than humans, he can detect the noise as well.

"Do you want to check it out?"

"**Can't hurt, can it?" **Lucario shrugged. **"Besides, we can defend ourselves, if there's any danger to the noise." **

Ash walked to the tree, where he thought the noise was coming from, and started climbing up to investigate the source of the noise, Lucario waiting below the tree. Perhaps it was just a wild Pokémon, but since the tree he is currently climbing on doesn't offer much concealment, it's highly unlikely.

Halfway through the climb, something heavy dropped on Ash's free shoulder, and Ash lost his grip and fell to the ground. He used telekinesis to slow down his fall, and stopped a foot from the ground. He then let himself down slowly, and landed on his feet softly, Pikachu clinging on the back of his shirt for dear life, Lucario ran over to him to make sure he's ok.

"What landed on me?" Ash groaned.

"**Hi, Ash, long time no see." **A familiar voice greeted them.

Ash widened his eyes. He knew that voice! He looked to the speaker, and sure enough, a purple, simian Pokémon with two tails, each with a large, rounded hand with three red-tipped fingers was grinning widely at him.

"**Ampibom! Long time no see!" **Pikachu waved at him. Lucario raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, you two haven't been acquainted. Ambipom, this is Lucario. Lucario, this is my old friend from Hoenn and Sinnoh, Ambipom, before I traded him away to Dawn." Lucario frowned at the last word. Isn't she one of the traitors?

"**So, what are you doing here, Ambipom?" **Lucario enquired.

"**Oh, I'm done training with that O guy, and thought I'd go back to my trainer, but when I heard her talk bad about Ash, I knew I can't stay with her, because I don't even agree a single word that she said about you. I went off to try to find you, and heard gossip about the upcoming tournament in this PAL region, so I thought I'd head here and try to find you. And now, here I am!" **Ambipom replied cheerfully. By her aura, Ash knew she wasn't lying. **"So, how are you doing, Ash?" **

"I'm great. So, Ambipom, do you want to return to me?" He took out a Pokeball.

"**Definitely." **Ambipom jumped to Ash, and pressed the capture button herself. She was sucked in, and the Pokeball dinged without even shaking.

"I guess I just caught an Ambipom?" Ash announced uncertainly.

He let Ambipom out again. "Ambipom, we're going for lunch, do you wanna come along?"

"**Sure!" **

'Ambipom looked like it knew this trainer.' Cynthia thought. 'If only I can understand Pokéspeech.'

* * *

Phillip went up a flight of stairs that lead to the roof. There's a small dome-shaped room with a door to the outside. He opened the door, and stepped to the rooftop, where they had built a garden with flower beds and potted trees. From tree branches hung hundreds of wind chimes.

Emolga immediately went to examine the blossoms, while Phillip set down his equipment, and began working on his new invention.

"**What are you doing, Phillip?" **Emolga asked.

Phillip smiled shyly. "Well…..I'm going to build a new game stimulus, where it takes the user into a fighting game like Mortal Kombat. What moves they use against their opponents are entirely up to the user, no buttons controlled by people outside to get them to punch, kick or anything. The user have to execute the moves himself."

"**Really? What's its purpose?" **Emolga asked.

"Er…I figure that's a good way for trainers to practice to defend themselves should they face danger and they don't have any Pokémon. Of course, there are health points as well, and once the user's health become zero, he is simply brought back to the real world, without any injuries, of course, since the injuries they acquire in the game is not real. Unfortunately, only aura users could be able to activate this device, since the device depends on aura to run."

"Sounds like a cool device." A female voice said.

"It is, Emo- Ah!" Phillip turned to the source of the voice, thinking it's Emolga, only to see a strange girl with long brown hair and light brown eyes smiling down at him, and he screamed in fright, dropping the tool in his hand in the process.

The girl giggled. "You sure are easy to scare, Phillip."

"Who are you?" Phillip asked nervously. He hid his hand behind his back, charging electric sparks, ready to shock her at the wrong answer.

"My name is Jasmine. It's a pleasure to meet you." Jasmine held out a hand.

Phillip hesitated, before shaking hands with her after deactivating his sparks.

"You're a Gym Leader, aren't you?" Phillip asked.

"Very perspective. I'm Johto's Steel-type Gym Leader."

"Oh, ok." Phillip nodded, and turned back to his invention. Being a shy type, he isn't really one to initiate conversations, and preferred to keep to himself, although he's still considered more approachable and talkative than Pakura is. He hoped Jasmine would go when she sees that he's not very interested to have a conversation. Soon, he was absorbed into his work again.

He did not even notice that instead of leaving, Jasmine simply sat next to him, and watched him work.

* * *

Ash squeezed through a secret tunnel located near the forest, and it lead him to a huge forest clearing. It's a place he had discovered years ago, when he was trying to hide from the press soon after he was crowned Champion. Since then, it had been a good place to train Pokémon in private. He wasn't aware that the Sinnoh Champion had also found out about the place since she was following him, and was currently going through the tunnel after him.

He laid out the bowls for the Pokémon, and poured out Pokémon food for every single one of them, being careful to sort the bowls according to Pokémon type. Cynthia was behind a tree, watching the scene quietly.

"Alright, come out, everyone!" Ash used his telekinesis to throw all his Pokeballs up into the air, and they all opened, revealing all his Pokémon.

Cynthia gaped at the number of Legendaries that Champion Red owned. And why does some of his Pokémon look familiar like that Pikachu? Especially that Meloetta….could it be?

"**ASH!" **They shouted enthusiastically, some going to him for a hug.

"Yes, yes I miss spending time with you all too." Ash laughed, getting a hug from the more affectionate ones such as Meloetta, Manaphy, Meganium, Latias, Shaymin, Celebi, Victini and Mew.

"Papa!"Manaphy jumped onto Ash's arms.

"Hi, Manaphy. Great to see you too. I'm so sorry I've been busy." Ash hugged him to his chest closely.

"It's ok, Papa. I'm so glad I can spend time with you now."

"Everyone, I would like you to meet an old friend of mine, Ambipom!" Ash indicated the purple monkey-like Pokémon he caught a few minutes ago. "For those who do not know her, she was my Pokémon from Hoenn to Sinnoh and decided to return to us in our quest!"

"**Hi, everyone. As some of you may know, I'm Ambipom, and I just finished training with O. I didn't like what Dawn said about Ash, so I wandered around to find Ash, and arrived here since I heard about the tournament, and figured Ash would be there!" **Everyone, hearing this, welcomed her with open arms. Some that already knew her went over to chat with her.

"Alright, everyone, it's lunchtime, and we can train after you have dessert!" Ash announced, interrupting the reunion.

The Pokémon cheered, and rushed to their respective bowls.

"So, Ash, have you tried to figure out what I meant by being careful of the quiet one?" Mewtwo asked.

"No, I was a bit busy with my duties to notice, but I'll work on it when I have time." Ash replied, scratching his head.

"You better hurry. Everyone's lives may depend on whether you solve them or not." Mewtwo warned.

"I get it." Ash nodded, watching the other Pokémon eat their lunch, while having conversation.

After lunch, Ash served some Poképuffs for dessert, and the Pokémon enjoyed them immensely.

"**These Poképuffs are great as always, Ash!" **Latias commented. **"Was is Pakura who made these?"**

"Yeah. She had plenty of practice making Poffins and Pokéblocks for contest, so she's the best at making Poképuffs."

"**Give our thanks to her later." **Meloetta said, savouring the sweet flavour of the Poképuffs.

"**This is even better than the Poffins Dawn made!" **Shaymin remarked.** "I don't even need to release smoke through my mouth after swallowing." **

"**Agreed." **Celebi mumbled.

"**Yum…..Pakura sure knows what flavour Dragon types like us like." **Dialga said.

"**And she even made spicy ones for us Fire types!" **Infernape added. Charizard grunted in agreement.

"**Yummy! This is great!" **Ambipom exclaimed, this being her first time eating a Poképuff.

"Alright, everyone! Now that you finished your desserts, why don't we do some training?" Ash finally asked. All the Pokémon murmured their assent.

"Now, get in pairs and start training! Pretend you are a wild Pokémon and your partner is a Pokémon belonging to a trainer who is about to catch you. Fight with your instincts, and do not wait for me to command you to attack."

"**Why don't you take off your hood, Ash?" **Pikachu asked. **"Since we're alone now, and it's probably stuffy in that hood."**

"Yeah, you're right." Ash replied, raising his hand to pull down his hood.

Cynthia gulped in anticipation as Red slowly removed his hood, revealing his appearance.

Red's hair was slightly long at the back, and though the top had a spiky nature, it can be considered tame, with him having bangs long enough to cover his eyes brushed to the side. His face had a mature look to it, and was devoid of baby fats. He had beautiful dark brown eyes that had a tender look to it.

Cynthia gasped. She recognise this person. "Ash?" she whispered.

Unfortunately, Ash heard her gasp, and turned to her hiding place. He saw the tip of blonde hair just peeking out from the tree trunk.

"Oh no…" he whispered. He recognised this blonde hair.

"**Ash, we might be in trouble." **Lucario said.

Pikachu face palmed at his own stupidity to ask Ash to take off his hood.

* * *

"Lance, do you know which direction is towards Aquamarine's Style?" Wallace asked.

"How should I know, I'm not a PAL local." Lance replied. They were outside the Battle Arena, relaxing during a lunch break.

"Sorry, I'm just asking is because I need to go there to meet the other judges for the PAL Contest later." Wallace said.

"So, who are the other judges?" Lance enquired.

"Fantina and Pakura. Why?"

"Of course, that stuck-up bitch would have to be one of the judges. She's the World's Top Coordinator after all." Lance said sarcastically.

"Don't insult her, Lance. I think she's an extremely talented Coordinator. I mean, she's labelled as the youngest Legendary Coordinator in the world! And I don't think she's that bad. Besides, you better be careful what you say, Lance, you might end up wanting to date her."

"Yeah right. That'll happen when Grumpigs fly." Lance muttered, ignoring Wallace's warning.

"If you ask me, that Aerial Ace thing was your fault." said Wallace.

"My fault?" Lance asked incredulously. "How is it my fault that May's Munchlax dodged the attack?"

"Other than the fact that you didn't predict that Munchlax would dodge and may hit Jynx, since she's directly in front of it? She did say to watch where her Pokémon is before you call out an attack you know."

At that moment, Jude walked by with his Purrloin.

"Hi, Jude." Wallace smiled at him.

Jude grinned back. "Hi Wallace, hi Lance."

Lance nodded at Jude.

"Jude, could you tell me where the Aquamarine's Style is located?" Wallace asked him.

He pointed to one of the directions. "Go straight in that direction, and turn right. It's the biggest fashion boutique in the region, you shouldn't be able to miss it."

Wallace smiled in relief. "Thanks Jude."

"No prob. By the way, you guys might want to run right now, there's paparazzi coming this way 400m behind." With that, he quickly rushed off.

They hastily ran away from the spot they were talking at. "Wasn't it nice of him to give us a head start?"

Lance did not say anything, as he rushed for cover in the forest, while Wallace ran towards Aquamarine's Style.

* * *

"This is all your fault, Max." May huffed. They are all currently in Pokémon Center rooms, and having their luggage tossed out of the Plaza Hotel (name of the hotel participants stay in PAL) didn't put the traitors in a good mood.

"My fault?" Max protested. "I swear I placed the keys in my pocket, but it just disappeared!"

"Right, and Groudon can fly." May replied sarcastically.

"Break it up, both of you." Brock said. Both of them glared at each other, before looking away.

"I knew I shouldn't have opted out of the Battle Tower rooms!" Misty grumbled. "Now it's too late!"

"Never mind that now." Iris grumbled. "Not only do we need to keep an eye on those Elites, we also need to find out who stole our keys! I bet it's one of those Elites that did it."

"But why would the PAL Elites do anything to us? We haven't done anything to them." May replied.

"Something about their tastes are strange, and yet familiar at the same time." Cilan observed. "We'll have to get more information on them."

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with you." Trip said. "Let's go to the Library. I heard they got the biggest Library and lots of computers you can use for free."

"Sure." The others nodded, and headed to the library.

* * *

"Back again, Lance?" Princess asked softly.

Lance nodded, panting.

"What happened?" Princess raised her eyebrows, noticing his state.

"The paparazzi happened, that's what." Lance muttered.

"Why didn't you run to the Battle Tower? They aren't allowed at the Tower, you know." Princess enquired calmly.

"First instinct was to run here because there's protective power here." Lance shrugged. "Besides, I was nearer to the forest than the Tower."

"Sneaky. I like it." Princess smiled. "Send your Pokémon out. I'll see if the food is ready. Don't expect a gourmet meal." She left to another part of the cave.

Lance threw all his Pokeballs, and out came all his Pokémon. His Pokémon looked around, wondering where they are.

"If you are wondering where you are, you are at the Dragon Princess' cave." Lance answered. "It isn't an easy place to find, since only true Dragon users can see the cave, and even so, there is psychic power to compel them to ignore it."

"**Wait, Dragon Princess?" **Dragonite gaped. **"As in the strongest female Dragon user in the whole Pokémon World?" **

"That's right." said a voice. All of them turned to see the Princess setting down some food for herself and Lance, and set some bowls in front of the Pokémon. She then poured some Pokémon food in the bowls.

"**Oh My God, it's the Dragon Princess in the flesh!" **Charizard gasped. **"She has a powerful aura about her." **

"**She's beautiful!" **Altaria gushed, despite not being able to see Princess' eyes due to them being covered by her bangs.

"Thank you." Princess smiled at Altaria. Altaria blushed at her smile.

"You can understand what Pokémon is saying?" Lance asked, surprised.

"It isn't unusual." Princess admitted. "All PAL Elite members understand Pokespeech." Instead of going to eat, she gleefully examined every single one of Lance's Pokémon. She could almost taste the strong bond between Trainer and Pokémon, and she could hear the Pokémon's thoughts on how much they liked their current Trainer, and can sense their positive emotions directed at Lance.

She was so caught up with examining the Dragon Pokémon she didn't notice Lance inadvertently ate all the food on the table, until Haxorus exclaimed, **"Lance! You just ate all her food!" **

Princess turned to see the empty dishes. Lance gasped, realizing what he's done.

"I'm so sorry Princess. I was so engrossed in watching you check my Pokémon I ate all the food!" Why does he always seem to trouble the Princess?

"Nah, that's ok. I'm not very hungry anyway." Princess waved the apology off, as she poured some tea into a cup and drank.

Lance decided to ask the one question that is on his mind.

"So, Princess, what happened to the Prince?"

The reaction was instantaneous.

CRASH!

The porcelain cup she had been holding dropped to the hard floor, and it crashed into millions of pieces. The Princess had an utterly shocked and frightened look on her face (judging by the way her lips are positioned).

"Princess?" Lance tried to shake her out of her shock, but she seemed to be too absorbed in her own mind.

"I-I'll tell you tomorrow." The Princess sounded like she was near tears. "I need to be alone for now."

Lance gave her a sad look. He shouldn't have asked such a sensitive question. "I'm sorry, Princess."

"No, it's fine." Princess replied. "It's fine."

But Lance knew she was lying to make him feel better.

"Come back tomorrow?" Princess asked slightly hopefully, as he returned his Pokémon and turned to leave.

Lance nodded. "I will."

* * *

"C-Cynthia, I can explain, I…" Ash tried to stutter at Cynthia who is staring at him, shellshock. A minute later, she ran at him, and threw her arms around him, and started to cry, mumbling something around the lines of 'don't leave me again', and 'I can't believe I found you.'

To say Ash was surprised might be an understatement, since he wasn't expecting this; he was actually expecting a slap to the face, but this is definitely better than a slap. He wrapped his arms around her to comfort her anyway. His Pokémon looked at each other, wondering what they are going to do with this situation. Manaphy, however, was more eager to listen in and find out if Cynthia would be her new Mama.

Ash finally manage to get Cynthia to finally stop crying, but he couldn't get her to let him go, so they had a conversation where they are now.

"Where were you all this time?" Cynthia whispered.

Ash sighed, and told her everything. How after he heard the conversation between his former friends, Trip and his mother, he decided to train by himself by getting all his Pokémon, and received a CommuniDex from Professor Oak, how his aura accumulated due to his emotions at his peak chose that timing to teleport him to an unknown region, how Pakura found him, took him in and told him more about PAL, how he caught new Pokémon, trained them along with his newly discovered abilities in the PAL Plateau by himself and fed his Pokémon healthy food and vitamins, and how they evolved, and finally, him taking the PAL Elite challenge two years ago, winning against Pakura, and becoming the first Champion.

He left out that part where he was selected as Chosen One and the Legendaries joining him on his quest, preferring to keep that a secret for now.

Cynthia finally let go of him. "That's…an overwhelming story…" she said in awe.

"It is. The thing is, Mewtwo" He nodded to the Genetic Pokémon, "told me the night of the opening ceremonies that the five leaders escaped from jail. They are coming for all five of us, so we agreed not to drag anyone else in." Ash sighed. "I thought by not telling you about my true identity, and as long as I act my part as Champion and stayed away you'd be safe. However, Pikachu wasn't very subtle." He smiled ruefully at the yellow mouse, who looked embarrassed.

"I'm glad he wasn't. Because if he was, I'll never find you." Cynthia said determinedly. "You know I'll never abandon you when there's danger. On the contrary, I'll stay with you. I say you grew up to be one fine man." She winked at him, making him blush.

"**Why aren't you asking her out to dinner?" **Pikachu hinted. **"She likes you, and you like her; I say go for it!" **

"**Yeah, I mean she went so far just to find you, she's a keeper, Ash." **Lucario encouraged. **"And she's been pining for you for so long." **

"Er…" Ash looked at the two of them nervously.

Cynthia was smiling at him expectantly. She was definitely going to enjoy this.

"Cynthia, would you….have dinner with me tonight? It'll be the two of us." Ash said this in a rush.

He expected Cynthia to reject him or something, but Cynthia kissed him on the cheek, and said, "I never thought you'd ask."

Ash smiled in both happiness and relief.

Things could only get better…..right?

"**I'm so happy for you, Ash!" **Meloetta was singing a happy tune.

"**This is the first time I've seen you truly happy, Ash." **Shaymin remarked. **"I'm so glad!" **

But Manaphy had another idea. He jumped into Cynthia's arms. Cynthia caught him, surprised, as he rubbed his head against her right shoulder in affection. "Mama!"Manaphy cried.

"So, Manaphy, you chose her as your new Mama?" Ash asked, smiling. He turned to a stunned Cynthia. "You see, May used to be Manaphy's motherly figure until she betrayed me, so Manaphy declared that May is not his Mama anymore. It looks to me he chose you as his new Mama!"

Cynthia smiled, and petted Manaphy. "Hello, Manaphy." She cooed at the Seafaring Pokémon, petting it softly. Manaphy seemed to be content in Cynthia's arms.

"Cynthia is my new Mama! Papa, are we going to be one big happy family?"Manaphy asked sweetly.

Cynthia and Ash looked at each other, before Ash turned back to Manaphy and said, "We'll see, Manpahy."

Manaphy clapped his hands in joy in Cynthia's arms.

* * *

Rosaline had decided to head to the library for more information so that she could work on the Legendary Dragon Duo case. She is currently at the Old News section, pouring over back issues of _The PAL Times _(one of the newspapers in PAL), trying to figure out what exactly are the Dragon Prince and Princess real names, so she may get a lead, and find out more about their background. Or maybe she can find out what they look like, and match their faces to the citizens in PAL.

Imagine her surprise and disappointment, when she found the article about two people being crowned the Dragon Prince and Princess, but the Prince and Princess had their eyes covered by their fringe, which is impossible to determine their appearance, and this sentence: _The Dragon Prince has requested that their real names are to be kept secret, for their, especially the Dragon Princess', safety._

'But why would the Dragon Prince feel that the Dragon Princess needs her identity to be protected? Was she in danger?' Rosaline thought. She looked at the picture of the Duo again. The person who crowned them was Ken, the current announcer for the Pokémon World Championship.

'Maybe he knows something.' Rosaline thought. 'But he's not allowed to say anything. They even offered money that were up to six figures, but he still refused to talk, since he's not the type to sell his life story. I doubt he would help me in my case either. Gosh, this is one of the hardest cases I've ever seen!'

"**Why don't you use your mind reading powers on Ken?" **Espeon suggested.

"Espeon, you know I like the fun of solving the case without using psychic powers." Rosaline told her. "What fun is it when I only depend on my powers to solve cases?"

"**True." **Espeon nodded.

Rosaline sipped the strawberry smoothie she bought from the library café, and looked at the picture of the Duo. There wasn't much to look at since half their faces were mostly covered by the fringe.

"Look, what I know is that the Dragon Princess is still alive." Rosaline said to Espeon. "I don't know about the Dragon Prince though."

"**You mean the time you saw the Dragon Princess flying on her Dragonite that one time, and you tried to follow but she disappeared via teleportation?" **Espeon asked.

"That's the one" Rosaline nodded. "The Dragon Princess is pretty evasive."

She looked at the picture again reflectively. 'Could they have been people on the run before they became the Legendary Dragon Duo? Is that why they do not wish to disclose their real names to everyone but Ken?' Rosaline thought. That is a possibility. But the question is, what, or who, are they running away from? All the five evil teams have been shut down by Ash already, which earned him the nickname Silent Hero.

'Could the Princess have foreseen that the five bosses and their guards escaped? Is that why she was trying so hard to hide?' Rosaline wondered. The Duo, in addition to being Dragon masters, were also strong psychics themselves. Their psychic abilities are said to far exceed hers, and that's saying something, considering she is one of the strongest psychics in PAL, and she is talented enough to be accepted in the PAL Elite.

* * *

"Alright, according to the information we got, Jude's a Water/Dark, Rosaline's a Fire/Psychic, Phillip's an Electric/Steel, Pakura's a Fairy/Ice, and the Champion doesn't have any favoured type, right?" Trip consulted the notes he had taken down from the computer.

"That's right." said Cilan, looking at May and Dawn uneasily, since they were fuming from the information they read from Pakura's profile about being the number one Contest Star of PAL as she was a highly accomplished Coordinator, and Pakura never mentioned it. They bet they could beat her in a contest blindfolded, especially Dawn, since she did beat her mother, a Top Coordinator in a Contest battle before. Sure, it was an illusion caused by Mismagius, but still….

"Hey, aren't you sulking a bit too much?" Misty tried to pacify them.

"NO!" May and Dawn both shouted, causing those near them to ask them to keep quiet.

"Sorry…" They muttered insincerely.

"Anyway, which Pokémon of yours are missing again?" Cilan asked.

"My Blaziken, Skitty, and Glaceon." May spat.

"My Corsola." Misty added.

"My Pachirisu, Buneary, and Piplup." Dawn grumbled.

"My Emolga and Axew too." Iris replied.

Cilan nodded, and wrote it down. "Alright, assuming that each of them goes to the respective Elites with their type specialty, Blaziken would go to Rosaline, Glaceon would go to Pakura, Emolga and Pachirisu would go to Phillip, Piplup and Corsola would go to Jude, and the rest is probably with the Champion."

"But my Skitty is with that Pakura bitch." May cried.

"It could be because Skitty is either used for Contest purposes, or kept as a pet. Skitty is a popular pet Pokémon among trainers, after all." Cilan deduced. "She probably used her weakest Pokémon to combat you and Whitney, since I doubt she think you're worth her full strength."

"What did you say?!" May leapt up to strangle Cilan, but was restrained by Dawn, Max and Misty.

"Chill May. He's right. The PAL Elites are one of the most powerful trainers in existence. I don't think they'll use their full strength from the beginning." Misty said.

"But just to double confirm, I say we still try to keep an eye on those elusive Elites." Max suggested.

The others nodded assent.

"Hey, is that Rosaline over there?" Iris pointed to a figure at the Old News section a distance away.

"Alright, I found my target." said Max, starting to head towards Rosaline.

"Be careful, Max." May warned.

"I will." He said, following Rosaline as she left the library.

* * *

Pakura was walking along the edge of the forest, on the way back to Aquamarine's Style, where she was supposed to meet Wallace and Fantina so that they can prepare together as judges of the PAL Contest. She had a lot of thought in her mind.

When she first met that Dawn girl in Aquamarine's Style, her first impression is that she looked exactly like Princess Salvia. She knew Princess Salvia, since as PAL's "Princess", she had been invited to Arrowroot Town Palace for dinner a few times. However, Dawn's personality is so different from her. And not to mention, Dawn's a bitch. How did those two have the exact same appearance, she'll never know.

Speaking of which, she wondered why they couldn't just call her by her name instead of "Princess".

"**Let go….help…." **A faint voice interrupted her thoughts. It was coming from the direction of the forest and it seemed distant as well, as if the source of the voice is far away from her, but Pakura managed to pick it up with her excellent hearing. Pakura narrowed her eyes. It sounded feminine, so she thought the Pokémon must be female.

"I'm going to check it out." Pakura said. Her Pokémon nodded, and they went to the forest, with Sylveon and Skitty. Thanks to her superior speed (despite the fact that all Elite has enhanced speed, she is still faster than the other Elites), she managed to reach where she thought the voice was from.

She heard voices from her left, and headed for that direction.

"You see, Mike, this Eevee is rare and worth a lot! I mean, it's the only Pokémon that can evolve into eight different forms!" A man which stunk of cigarette smoke and had a bushy beard was holding on to a feebly struggling Eevee.

"Yeah, you may be right, Leon, PAL sure has loads of rare Pokémon, and we can just take them and sell them for money!" Mike commented. "Maybe we can catch another Legendary Pokémon before we go. It's so worth it sneaking abroad that ship to PAL!"

"Is it, really?" Pakura asked in a cold voice.

The two men turned, surprised to see a girl standing before them, and a beautiful one, at that.

Mike whistled, looking Pakura up and down. "Look what we have here! A hot chick! Come on baby, let's go back to my place and have some real fun!"

"Your clothing would look great on my bedroom floor, if you know what I mean." Leon winked. Pakura held back the urge to roll her eyes. She got that all the time from men, especially ones that are more than twice her age.

"**Yuck." **Sylveon was disgusted at how men always hit on her trainer. Skitty looked like she wanted nothing more than to barf on the poachers.

Mike approached her. "Come on, babe, let's-" Before he could say anything else, his throat was slit. The last thing he saw was Pakura with her hand covered in an icicle which is shaped like a sword. The sword was dripping with blood- his blood.

Leon panicked when his partner fell to the ground dead, and sent out a Pokémon. "Trubbish, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Skitty, Assist." Pakura countered calmly. Assist turned out to be Psychic, and Skitty threw Trubbish against the wall. It fainted easily.

'Weak.' Pakura thought, disdain clearly shown on her features.

Leon started to run, but Pakura shot an icicle out of her hand. It pierced through his heart from his back.

"You're….not…human…" Leon gasped, before he too fell dead.

Pakura picked up the near unconscious Eevee, and examined her. Her tiny body was full of bruises and bleeding cuts from struggling against the poachers, and burns from electrical traps. Pakura grimly noted that if her injuries are not treated in time, she might succumb to them eventually, but it's no problem for her. Pakura closed her eyes, and Eevee glowed in a blue aura, and slowly, the bruises and burns disappeared and the cuts stopped bleeding, and the cuts started to close. Very soon, Eevee was healed up completely.

"**Thank you!" **Eevee wagged her tail and looked at Pakura happily.

Pakura said nothing; instead, she carried Eevee to a part of PAL's natural paradise. It was a garden with clean water at the lake, and plenty of berries growing in bushes and trees. It was also filled with flowers of all kinds. There are several wild Pokémon playing in the garden. Eevee would be safe here, and be fed and watered for the rest of her life, and have plenty of playmates.

She put Eevee down, and while Eevee was distracted looking around at the beautiful place, she left without saying goodbye, and before Eevee could notice.

"**Why didn't you ask Eevee if she wanted to come along with you?" **Sylveon asked. **"And why didn't you say goodbye?" **

"She'll be better off there. Besides, that garden is the best place for her. I mean, she is free to roam around, and have fellow Pokémon to play with, and she won't starve or be thirsty, as opposed to training hard for battles or contests if she's with me. As for why I didn't say goodbye, it's because I doubt she'll stay if I didn't."

"**You're a nice person, aren't you?" **Skitty remarked.

Pakura hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder…" Is killing without hesitation for the sake of Pokémon considered nice? Some may call it inhumane, for one to take another's life, but what if the person's life that is taken did a crime that is unforgivable to PAL- Poaching Pokémon?

"_You're….not…human…"_

And ironically, she didn't regret it one bit.

"**We're here."** said Sylveon.

Pakura reached Aquamarine's Style, pushed open the doors and went in.

Unbeknownst to them, the same Eevee that Pakura left in the garden snuck through the doors before they closed.

* * *

"Judging by the shining and smooth feathers your Unfezant has, you have been taking care of your Unfezant very well." Jude said to a boy who wanted him to evaluate his Unfezant's well-being and their relationship together. "And by the response your Unfezant gave me when I asked about you," Understanding Pokémon language is pretty advantageous when you're a Connoisseur. "He likes you very much, and you guys most likely have a long friendship, I bet you guys have been together for at least 5 years. Am I right?"

"Wow, you're right, we've been together for nearly six years now." The boy replied, smiling. Except there was something wrong with the way he is smiling. His lips were curled up at the edges, but the smile didn't seem to go all the way to his eyes. It sort of stopped at his gums.

Jude frowned. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing, it's just that…..there was this girl who wanted to evaluate my relationship with my Unfezant, but she said that my relationship with him was worst of the worst, and insisted I get another one. I don't know who I should listen to." The boy mumbled.

Jude narrowed his eyes. "Who is it?"

"It's some girl called Burgundy." The boy replied. "She said she's an expert in telling the relationship between trainers and Pokémon, since she's a Connoisseur too."

Jude tried to remember where he heard the name from.

"_Oh, Burgundy? She has a rivalry with Cilan, but if you ask me, it's one-sided on her part. She kept boasting that she's a great Connoisseur, but she doesn't know shit. When I first met her, she's pretending to be good enough to run her own Connoisseur shop, and she made me show her all her Pokémon, and she said all of them were horrible and I need to replace all of them, and seemed to want to replace them for me. She doesn't even have any reason to back up her claims. When asked about her rank, she's a C-Class Connoisseur, but she thinks that all professionals would say the same thing she did about my relationship with my Pokémon." Ash rolled his eyes at what he remembered about that girl. _

"_Sounds to me she's just a conceited little brat." Jude replied._

"_She is, alright." Ash nodded. _

Jude then realised she was mentioned when Ash told him about his travels in Unova. Back then, he was eager to hear Ash's stories as his hometown was Humilau City in Unova.

"Oh, that girl." Jude waved him off with disdain for Burgundy. "She's just a C-Class Connoisseur, a novice class, so why are you even listening to her? She's not allowed to open her own shop, and people from her class are only allowed to work as assistants to A-Class and above. Listen to me. I think your relationship with Unfezant is great. Don't let that wannabe's word get to you."

"Really?" The boy's smile was wide. "Thank you!"

Jude waved, as the boy returned his Unfezant to his Pokéball and left after paying Jude, which Jude reluctantly accepted.

Jude sighed. He had been dealing with a long line since lunch break, since besides offering a professional Connoisseur's service, he also runs a bookstore and café, the latter only built the beginning of this year since the café used to be a sweet shop next door that was ran by a family, but it shut down last year after an ancient water pipe burst in the ceiling, destroying all their stock.

The Elites had the idea of installing a café in the former sweet shop and knocking the wall between Jude's shop and the café down, which gave him more business. However, as far as running the shop goes, while he is good at physically making sales and running a service at the same time, he needed help in running the café, so he usually hired assistants to do it. However, he isn't very good at bookkeeping and bill paying, numbers not being his forte, which is why Pakura usually handled these things.

"**Tired, Jude?" **Purrloin asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jude yawned. "What wouldn't I give just to go for a swim?" His last swim was interrupted by Ash's message to get his ass back to the Plateau because he got his invitation.

"**I'll go get some juice." **Purrloin scampered to the café to get a drink for Jude. She returned with a mango juice for Jude.

"Thanks, Purrloin." Jude took a sip. "How I hate arrogant people like that Burgundy girl." With that, he went out his shop for some fresh air, Purrloin following behind.

The first thing he noticed was that someone had set up a portable shop station somewhere next to his café. Jude heard voices inside the station, and approached closer to listen in, since there was a female voice shouting.

"You got to replace that Swablu!" the girl declared.

Jude opened the curtains to find a girl dressed in a long-sleeved pink shirt and over it was a red sleeveless shirt with four gold buttons at the stomach, a red bow at the collar, and black pants. She had purple hair with matching eyes, and had an arrogant look about her. A little girl was trembling at her voice, clutching to her Swablu.

"What are you doing?" Jude asked, interrupting the Connoisseur.

The girl turned to him, surprised.

"I'm just telling this girl that she is better off with a Swablu that has Natural Cure instead of Cloud Nine." The Connoisseur explained.

"Oh? And why is that so?" Jude asked.

"Well….it's because…..because….Are you doubting the words of a Connoisseur?" She demanded.

Jude smirked. This must be the Burgundy girl Ash was talking about. "Yes I am. Exactly what Class Connoisseur are you?"

"Er….I'm a C-Class. What about it?" Burgundy stuttered.

"Shows what you know." Jude turned to the little girl. "Listen, you go to my shop for now, and wait for me there. I'll evaluate it for you, if you like." He smiled at the girl. "My café is just next to this fake station."

The little girl nodded. "Thanks, mister!" With that, she left, and Burgundy lost her customer.

Jude then turned to Burgundy. "Listen here, in PAL, we don't appreciate fakes who pretend to be professionals. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, doing whatever you like in our region."

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" Burgundy asked.

"**Ignorant, isn't she?" **Purrloin asked. Jude nodded.

"It's for me to know, and for you to find out. One more time I catch you doing this, I won't hesitate to take your license. Now if you excuse me, I have a shop to run and customers to attend to." With that, he left, back to his shop.

When he returned, he attended to the little girl from earlier. Jude deduced that they had been together for two years, so their relationship is not very close yet, but by spending time and training it, she'll most likely have a great relationship with her Swablu in times to come. He also stated that her Swablu's Cloud Nine ability is useful as it negates the effect of weather attacks, thus Swablu wouldn't get damaged from them, and may lessen the damage of attacks that are strengthened by weather.

"And this is how you evaluate Pokémon." Jude concluded to Purrloin. "I wonder why they pay me for my services, though."

"**That's because you are one of the best. Your try your best to make the relationship between Pokémon and Trainer sound as good and close as possible, and give positive advices on how to improve the relationship. It also helps that you understand Pokémon language, and can ask the Pokémon what they think of their trainer, and you are honest, quoting the exact words the Pokémon said. That's why they pay you even though you never said they had to." **Purrloin answered.

"Well, if you say so." Jude smiled.

* * *

Phillip Robinson is feeling rather embarrassed at the moment.

Imagine him successfully finishing his invention, and being all satisfied about it, only that Jasmine girl is still there watching him. Phillip, unfortunately, didn't take it very well that she's still there, since he gave a startled shout, grabbed his invention, and ran back down to his floor, leaving her to stare after him, stunned.

"That was embarrassing." Phillip sighed.

"**Indeed." **Emolga replied, giggling at the way Phillip reacted earlier.

"But why was she still there watching me? I thought she'd have left by now."

"**Beats me." **Emolga shrugged.

"Well, it wasn't as embarrassing as Rosaline seeing me in just my boxer shorts while I was getting breakfast the day after she was named as the newest Elite." Phillip shuddered at the memory. That time, he had forgotten that there are now girls in the Elite, and he can't just go get breakfast without getting dressed from then on. Jude still had a great laugh about it.

"**I'd say you need to go out a bit. You deserve a break after making that invention and the shock of Jasmine watching you. How about we go watch the PAL Contest?" **Emolga suggested.

"Well, I'm bored, so yeah, I'll go." Phillip shrugged, as he pressed the elevator, and waited for it to come up to his floor.

* * *

"**Rosaline." **Espeon said. **"We're being monitored."**

"I know." Rosaline replied. "You're talking about the kid following me right?"

"**Yeah." **

"I rather not let him catch me using my powers." Rosaline said to Espeon. She teleported behind Max, which confused him since she suddenly disappeared, and looked around for her, not knowing she was behind him.

Rosaline sent out her Munna. "Munna, hypnosis!" Before Max could react, Munna's eyes glowed eyes glow light blue and Max fell asleep. Rosaline walked over to the sleeping Max, and touched his forehead, and activated her ability.

"**So, what kind of dream did you give him?" **Munna asked.

"It's a dream where his father Norman found out about his betrayal to Ash and getting a really huge and long scolding, which would end with him telling his son that he is getting grounded and he won't be able to go on his Pokémon journey." Rosaline chuckled. "He won't wake up until the dream is over." Rosaline caught Munna looking at her hopefully. "And no, Munna, you're not allowed to use Dream Eater on him, you'll ruin my ability."

"**Awww…" **Munna was disappointed.

"But you can eat one of these." Rosaline offered Munna a Poképuff, which Munna ate with delight.

"**Yummy!" **Munna commented with joy.

Rosaline's hand suddenly jerked towards her pen and an old piece of paper in her pocket, and her arm unconsciously wrote down something, glowing in aura all the while.

"**Rosaline, your prophecy making ability has shown itself again." **

"Yeah, I wonder why." Her ability of prophecy construction only shows itself once in a blue moon, and only when there's extreme danger coming closer, ones that may mean their lives or deaths.

Just then, her hand stopped glowing, and they read what she had written.

_The Danger is quiet  
Silent and tranquil  
Moving in silently for the kill  
On their own free will  
Abused by evil, abused by society  
They are quietly shutting everyone out  
With their Heart full of doubt  
The quiet one is seeking revenge  
For all that they had done  
Acting on their emotions  
Hiding their deadly secrets  
The quiet one sought to let everyone feel their pain  
Never caring if there's no gain_  
_Anger and hate takes over _  
_All because of a lost Lover. _

"I better tell Ash." She quickly sent a message to the Champion.

"**We can worry about the poem you wrote later. For now, why don't we go to the PAL Contest to watch Pakura?" **Espeon suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Rosaline exclaimed.

* * *

"Wow, Ash, my Pokémon loves these Poképuffs. Who made this?" Cynthia asked, examining a pink Poképuff. Her Pokémon were at the background devouring the cake-like confections, enjoying every single bite of it._  
_

"Pakura did. She's pretty good at making Pokéblocks and Poffins as well." Ash replied. "I'm glad your Pokémon liked it."

"It'll be nice if you can get Pakura to make more of these for my Pokémon." She commented, as the Poképuff on her hand got snatched up and eaten by her Glaceon.

Ash smiled, and turned to Pikachu, who was being hugged and kissed on the cheek by Buneary. Ash laughed as Pikachu seemed contented by Buneary's affections, and he isn't exactly in the Attract status often seen in battles. They had become close over the four years since Buneary left Dawn to join him, and Pikachu, like the good big brother, cared for her during that time, where Buneary felt rather left out among Ash's Pokémon, since she was the only defected one to stay with Ash, while the rest became close to the other Elites. Apparently, the friendship eventually became love.

"So, buddy, when can I expect eggs to come?" He asked teasingly, earning a blush from the Pokémon.

"**Hopefully soon, Ash." **Buneary replied happily.

"Wow, look at this, Ash." Cynthia pointed to her Glaceon, who is trying to get his Glaceon's attention, only his Glaceon doesn't seem to be interested.

"Don't worry about my Glaceon, she always had an icy personality. Fits her type rather well, doesn't it?" He watched as his Glaceon continued to ignore Cynthia's Glaceon, only her Glaceon was rather persistent.

"Hopefully my Glaceon can warm yours up." Cynthia indicated to the two Glaceons

Ash gave a stiff grin. "Maybe." He watched as his Glaceon used Ice Beam Cynthia's, but her Glaceon doesn't seem in the least daunted, and followed his Glaceon around. His Glaceon is trying to ignore her Glaceon, and judging by the words Cynthia's Glaceon said, it's apparent he has fallen for her.

Just then, his CommuniDex signalled a message from Rosaline. He opened it, read the message, and gasped.

"What's wrong, Ash?" Cynthia asked, concerned.

Ash showed her the picture of the prophecy, explaining Rosaline's gift to tell the future by writing poetry down unconsciously.

"What does this mean?" Cynthia asked, frightened.

"It means the PAL Elites are in danger." Ash replied grimly.

"**Is it more than one person?" **Pikachu asked.

"No, it's one person only." Pikachu, Lucario and Cynthia blinked at him. "Look at this line: They are quietly shutting everyone out, with their Heart full of doubt. Heart, not hearts. It's written as they because the person's gender is unknown and thus the ability used 'they' to describe gender neutrality. Whoever this person is probably the one causing those mysteries. If we can find out who this is and why, it's most likely we can put an end to this!"

Cynthia looked at him in admiration. Ash clearly isn't as dense as four years ago.

Lucario coughed. **"Ash, isn't the PAL Contest thing starting soon?" **

Ash jumped up. "Oh yeah, you're right! We'll talk about this later! Come on, guys!" they returned their Pokémon, and Ash offered his hand to Cynthia, which she accepted, and Ash teleported them outside Aquamarine's Style, which is located near the Contest Hall.

* * *

"All done, Princess Pakura!" Aquamarine Alexandrite, owner of Aquamarine's Style and Pakura's personal designer and stylist cheerfully placed the last touches on Pakura's preparation.

"Why can't you just call me Pakura?" she asked, irritated.

"Oh, you're as modest as usual, Princess Pakura! Just check yourself out in the mirror!" Aquamarine gushed.

Pakura checked herself out in the mirror. She was wearing the same dress that May had wanted, and her hair was pulled up into a bun with a strands of hair falling from it. She was also wearing a tiara on the side of her head with a Key Stone fixed into it, along with baby blue ballet flats.

Pakura nodded her thanks, and left the boutique with Skitty and Sylveon, and made her way to the Contest Hall, unaware of her little follower. She ignored the people waving to her, calling her "Princess". Arceus forbid they should just say Pakura. Sure, the other regional Elites and her fellow Elites call her Pakura, but the other regional Elites will go back to their regions after the tournament, and her fellow Elites also sometimes slipped up and called her "Princess". The worst part is, they really think she's PAL's Princess and sometimes, they call her "Princess Pakura" like her stylist. And when she tells them not to, they assume it's out of modesty.

Meanwhile, the Eevee that she left in the garden was peeking from behind a pillar, and smiling to herself. She imagined what it would be like to become her Pokémon, when suddenly, she was snatched up, and Eevee found herself face to face with a blond girl with green eyes.

"Aww. You're such a cutie!" The girl was smothering her. Eevee was struggling to get herself off the girl's grip.

"Alright. I've made up my mind. From today onwards, you're now my Pokémon!" she declared.

Eevee didn't like the idea, since she already decided she'll only become the black haired girl's Pokémon and promptly fired a shadow ball at the girl's face, causing her to fall and let go of her. Eevee quickly scampered away.

Hearing something, Pakura turned in time to see a light brown furry tail disappearing around the corner, away from a dazed girl.

"**Something wrong, Pakura?" **Sylveon asked.

"No, nothing." Pakura shook her head, and promptly turned back to head to the Contest Hall's entrance. She entered the Contest Hall lobby, and was greeted by the receptionist, and she entered the still-empty Contest Hall, where Wallace and Fantina were waiting.

"Pakura! How nice of you to join us!" Wallace greeted her.

"Hello, Pakura." Fantina welcomed her in her accent.

"Champion Wallace, Leader Fantina." Pakura nodded curtly.

"It's an honour to have an exhibition contest battle with you, Pakura. Let's do our best!" Wallace said.

"Whatever." Pakura replied absent-mindedly.

"The audience is going to arrive, we better take our places." Fantina said, looking at the approaching crowd.

The other two nodded, and took their places, not knowing that an Eevee was hiding at the side of the stage, watching one of the judges.

* * *

"Well, well, looks like congratulations is in order." Jude looked at Ash and Cynthia's intertwined hands.

"Thanks, Jude." Ash blushed.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Ash?" Rosaline giggled.

"Everyone, this is Cynthia, Champion of Sinnoh region. Cynthia, meet the first member, Jude Harrison, second member, Rosaline Pyra, and the third member, Phillip Robinson. The last and the Leader of the Elite is one of the judges of the PAL Contest." Ash introduced them to each other.

Cynthia shook hands with each one of the PAL Elite members present.

"It's so nice to have a girlfriend for our Champion." Rosaline commented. "After all, he needs a special someone to make him happy in his life, since that incident four years ago."

"Yeah, really great." Phillip added, though he sounded slightly uncertain.

"Thank you." Cynthia smiled at them.

"Ok, celebrations aside, I need to tell you guy something." Ash's face looked serious.

"Yeah, what?" Jude raised his eyebrow.

"Rosaline's prophecy making ability showed up again." He showed the picture of the poem to the other three.

Phillip gasped. "So what does this mean?"

Ash grimaced. "It means that someone is after our lives."

* * *

They found good seats at the front row, next to Jessie, James, and Meowth, who are apparently taking a break from all the matches.

"Hey, Jessie, James. I knew you planned to go to a nightclub for your date last night. How did it go?" Ash greeted them, as they sat down next to them. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing Jessie's pissed off expression the moment he mentioned the date.

"Nothing's wrong…but it's just that our date last night went horribly!" Jessie exclaimed.

"What happened?" Phillip enquired.

"The nightclub entertainment was horrible! Jess, you tell them what happened last night!"

"There were these two….what's the word to use….performers performing a parody of us!" Jessie fumed.

"Specifically us from our old days!" James added.

"And your point is?" Cynthia asked.

"They did a horrible parody of us!" Jessie and James shouted in unison.

"The one playing me, Mari, made me look abusive towards James and Meowth! Hey, I may have a vicious temper, but I would never try to abuse either of them!" Jessie said.

"The other one, Mami, made me seem like a…..like a…." James can't find the word to use.

"Ok we got your point." Rosaline interjected.

"They also screwed up some facts about us! For instance, they swapped our backgrounds around!" James wailed. "They also screwed up our motto!"

"What's the deal about that? You guys already quit Team Rocket, you're not going to use them ever again!" Ash raised his eyebrow.

"I know that! But it still pisses me off!" Jessie was hysterical.

"Anyway, that Mami guy also screwed up my laugh too!"

By then, all the Pokémon that is outside the Pokéballs were laughing their heads off at Jessie and James' story.

Just then, Tracey interrupted. "Wait, did you just say Mari and Mami?"

"Yeah, why?" James asked miserably.

"Oh, those two. I know them personally. They are originally from the Orange Islands, though how they came here is a mystery to me. Probably snuck on a train or plane here or something. Anyway, those two are so egoistic and delusional they think their false perceptions of themselves are real. Their biggest dream is to become a fashion designer, and design everyone's clothes despite their bad drawing and horrible fashion sense."

"I certainly wouldn't wear the clothes they design for me." Rosaline shuddered.

"Oh and one more thing. They are totally in love with one of the male Champions, though I don't know who. Let's hope they never meet." Tracey shuddered. "I hate to see what would happen to that Champion."

"Shhh, guys, the Contest is starting." Jude said, as a woman in a gorgeous pink dress that exposed her legs in front, and reached to the floor at the back, walked out onto the middle of the Contest arena. Her hair was in a ponytail decorated with elegant hairpins.

"Welcome, everyone, to the PAL's Contest of the Year. My name is Aetna and I will be this PAL Contest's host!" There were cheering and clapping from the audience.

"Many Coordinators from all over the region come and compete for PAL's Special Ribbon, where it can be used as a ticket to the Grand Festival, no matter how many Ribbons you have, and it's only offered once every five years." She held up a dark blue silk Ribbon which is inlaid with gold, and in the middle was what looked like a crafted flower, to audience's delight.

"Please welcome the three judges: Gym Leader Fantina from Sinnoh, Champion Wallace from Hoenn, and Princess Pakura from PAL itself!" the three of them walked out onto the Contest battlefield, and to the judge's stand.

"And now, to open the Contest, Champion Wallace and Princess Pakura would have an exhibition Contest match!"

Ash and the others leaned forward in their seats, eager to see how Wallace would fare against Pakura.

* * *

"Milotic, Luvdisc, on stage!" Wallace threw his Pokéballs into the air. For Luvdisc, it opened with big pink hearts surrounding it, and becoming one big heart before dispersing into pink sparkles while it levitated itself gracefully. Milotic's opened with many blue bubbles flying away from the Pokéball, and she landed on the ground with the bubbles supporting it, before disappearing.

"Togekiss, Skitty, time to shine!" Pakura threw her Pokéballs into the air, and both of them opened with pink and purple petals surrounding them, before intertwining as they fall, and exploding in a blast of red fire, turning the petals into tiny confetti that fell to the ground, creating a beautiful effect. When the effect is over, Skitty and Togekiss can be seen on the battlefield.

"There is five minutes on the clock, battle begin!"

"Milotic, use Whirlpool. Luvdisc, use-" before Wallace could finish his command, Pakura already gave a command. "Togekiss, use Aura Sphere on Skitty. Skitty, use Double Edge, followed by Fake out!" The Aura Sphere mixed with the white aura of Double-Edge made Skitty glow blue, and when Skitty reached her opponents, she used Fake out on both Milotic and Luvdisc, and blue waves emitted from her hands, which hit both of them, dealing damage and making them flinch.

"Skitty, Assist, Togekiss, Shadow Ball, and use Dazzling Gleam." Assist turned out to be Iron Tail, and when the Shadow Ball hit the Iron Tail, it turned into a dark purple tornado, as Skitty spun the Shadow Ball with her tail. Togekiss used Dazzling Gleam to distract her opponents, and while they are distracted, Skitty fired the tornado Shadow Ball, hitting them, and exploding into purple sparkles.

With one and a half minutes past, Wallace had already lost 1/3 of his points, while Pakura lost none.

'She's fast at giving commands, and can react instantly the moment I open my mouth and give my commands.' Wallace thought. 'No wonder she hardly loses points during Contests.' "Milotic, Blizzard, Luvdisc, Sweet Kiss!"

"Skitty, Disarming voice, Togekiss, Flamethrower." The Disarming Voice managed to break the Sweet Kiss before it mixed with the Blizzard, and the Flamethrower went in between the pink ring lined with hearts of the Disarming Voice, and melted the Blizzard, turning it into water droplets that looked like sparkles. Furthermore, the hearts touched the flamethrower, turning it into flaming hearts, and hitting Milotic, exploding into orange glitter. Wallace lost more points for failing to perform a move and being hit by the opponent. He realised half his points were already lost, and there's only two minutes left to the clock.

Meanwhile, the Eevee from earlier was watching the match in admiration. If only she can perform beautiful moves like these too!

"Skitty, use Assist again, Togekiss, Aura Sphere." Assist turned out to be Moonblast and it mixed with the Aura Sphere, hurtling towards Wallace's Pokémon.

"Milotic, Luvdisc, dodge, and use double Ice Beam!"

As they both levitated into the air to avoid the pink-blue sphere and charge an Ice Beam, Pakura gave another command. "Skitty, jump on Milotic!" Skitty used her tail to spring on Milotic, who struggled to get the small Pokémon off it, misfiring the Ice Beam.

"Luvdisc, quickly aim Ice Beam on Skitty!" As Luvdisc took aim, Pakura gave another order.

"Togekiss, Fairy Wind to manoeuvre the sphere." Togekiss controlled the Moonblast-Aura Sphere attack, and hit Luvdisc, who fell towards the ground, and caused the Ice Beam to miss its target, and Pakura got Skitty to use Thunder on Milotic. Milotic took direct damage, causing Wallace to lose more points as a result of the misfired Ice Beams and the damage taken by Milotic.

"There is one minute left on the clock, folks!" Aetna announced.

"Milotic, use Attract, Luvdisc, Hidden Power!" Milotic winked, and pink hearts flew out, while Luvdisc used Hidden Power to try and make the hearts glow blue.

A split second later, Pakura also gave her command. "Togekiss, use Yawn." The Yawn bubbles was headed towards Milotic.

"Milotic, Safeguard!" Milotic used Safeguard to protect itself from the Yawn.

"A mistake, Wallace. I wasn't aiming for Milotic."

"What?"

"Togekiss, use Fairy Wind on the bubbles."

Togekiss sent the Yawn bubbles towards Luvdisc and the Yawn bubbles popped into Luvdisc's face, and it started to feel sleepy. Luvdisc fired the Hidden Power, but missed the Hearts. Soon, it fell asleep.

"Togekiss, use Aerial Ace. Skitty, Assist."

Assist turned out to be Psybeam, and it hits Togekiss as she uses Aerial Ace, and Togekiss glowed in a rainbow aura that hit Luvdisc as it fell towards the ground, asleep.

Eevee was at the side admiring the beautiful moves Pakura has executed during the exhibition match.

"30 seconds left on the clock!" Aetna announced.

"Milotic, use Twister on Togekiss!"

"Togekiss, use Psychic to return it back to its owner. Skitty, use Wake-up Slap on Luvdisc." While it dealt double damage, Luvdisc also woke up. Milotic was hit with its own Twister thanks to Psychic.

"Milotic, use Scald once more! Luvdisc, Toxic!" Scald and Toxic mixed to become one purple boiling liquid.

"Skitty, Hyper Voice. Togekiss, Metronome." Metronome turned out to be Hyper Beam, and it dispersed into circular shockwaves that followed Hyper Voice. Both of them clashed, and exploded into orange and purple fireworks. Both of them lost points as a result.

It was kept like that until Aetna announced the time was up. Both of them looked over to the scoreboard, and while Wallace lost 2/3 of his points, Pakura only lost a few.

"And the winner is Princess Pakura!" Aetna said, and everyone cheered.

'She's as good as they say. Not even I can take 1/4 of her points from her.' Wallace thought. 'If anything, she lost at most 1/8 of it.'

Eevee's eyes was shining in admiration as she watched Pakura return her Togekiss, thank her for her hard work, and let Skitty hop onto her shoulder. Eevee looked on with slight envy. She wants to be that close to Pakura too.

* * *

"Wow, she hardly lost any points. Can you believe it?" Rosaline exclaimed. "It's so worth it to come just to watch this amazing display."

"Yeah. Pakura's reaction time is way too fast for Wallace to catch up." Jude replied. "She is also able to ruin his combinations easily. I must say, it's a great performance!"

They watched as Wallace extended his hand for her to shake, and Pakura hesitated for a few seconds, before shaking his hand as well.

"You were awesome, Pakura!" Wallace said.

"Wallace, you too. Not many can take points away from me." Pakura replied.

'Hmm….now I think of it, Pakura doesn't like human contact. I wonder why….' Ash thought. He made a mental note to investigate this as well. He sighed. He has much more answers to find out than he thought.

"**Wow, she's stunning!" **Pikachu commented. **"This is the most beautiful display I've ever seen!" **

Just then, Phillip's Pokéball opened and out came Pachirisu.

"**She's definitely better than Johanna, Dawn's mum." **Pachirisu agreed. **"I bet in a Coordinating battle, Pakura would beat her by a mile!" **

"Pachirisu, you can stay out, but make sure the traitors don't see you. They are probably here for the Contest, especially your former owner." Phillip warned her.

"**Yes, sir!" **Pachirisu saluted.

* * *

(With the traitors)

"She must have cheated! There's no way she can defeat Wallace that badly!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Yeah, she made Wallace look like an amateur. There's no way anyone can beat the Hoenn Champion in Contests!" May said angrily. She also realized that the Elite's wearing the same dress that she wanted, which just made her more livid. First she stole her Skitty, and now she took the dress she wanted. What else would she take next? Her fans? May almost wanted to scream as the crowd was actually drooling over her, and calling her Princess. They should be showing their support to her! The Hoenn Princess!

"By the way, where's Max?" Cilan asked. "He left to follow Rosaline, and never came back!"

"Isn't Rosaline over there?" Iris enquired, pointing to a girl sitting at the front row at the other side of the Contest Hall who was chatting with her friends.

"Wait, if that is so, Max must be nearby." Misty said, scanning for Max, but he's nowhere to be found.

"Do you think something happened to him?" Brock suggested.

"Oh no!" May cried. "What if Rosaline did something to my precious little brother?"

"Don't worry, Trip and I will go look for him. You guys just do your best in the Contest, ok?" Brock offered.

"Ok, thanks, you guys." May nodded, as both left to go look for Max.

* * *

Ash watched as Pakura yawned at most of the appeals. Those appeals are beautiful, yes, but they lacked originality, since he knew she had seen so many of those on TV before. Can't those people think up of their own ideas and not get some rip-off from a previous Contest?

She actually fell asleep at Dawn's appeal, which consisted of Mamoswine using Ice Beam to make an ice structure, and Quilava would use Flame Wheel to ride along the ice beam's path, creating an ice slide. However, since Mamoswine is much heavier than Buneary, the Ice Slide actually broke when it is riding down.

"**This is getting old."** Pikachu commented. **"It's so similar to the appeal she used in the Sinnoh Grand Festival."**

Ash nodded. "I agree. Look, Paku's fallen asleep." They looked, and sure enough, Pakura had her head on her arms, with her eyes closed. That stance usually meant that Pakura was so bored she actually fell asleep. Wallace had to wake her up to tell her it's over so she can watch the next appeal.

Ash then noticed everyone was distracted with the Contest, and beckoned to Pikachu and Lucario.

"Guys, let's go, I'm going off to prepare for the date. I'm planning a nice show finale as well. I'm sorry you'll have to miss this."

"**Ok, sure." **Pikachu shrugged, hopping onto his shoulder.

"**Besides, we want to see what you have in store for her." **Lucario snickered, making Ash blush.

Ash took silent steps towards the door that lead to the lobby of the Contest Hall. Since he was at the end of the bench, it was easy for him to slip away unnoticed. Once he reached outside, he teleported to an unknown place.

* * *

"Max? Max?" Trip was shaking an unconscious Max.

When Max didn't wake up, he turned to Brock. "What happened to him?"

"I have no idea." Brock checked his pulse, and his temperature. It seemed to be normal. Who could have done this to him? Last he saw of Max until now, he had headed out to follow Rosaline, if that is so, this means Rosaline might have done this to make sure he doesn't follow her.

But the question is, how did she do it? Via Espeon? No, sleep inducing moves only lasts for so long, and Pokémon with Bad Dream Ability can only activate it on a target when it's out of the Pokeball, and the only Pokémon with that Ability is Darkrai. Rosaline is a Psychic specialist, so it's highly unlikely she owns a Darkrai. Unless Rosaline herself performed the Ability.

He shook his head, and gave Trip a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure Max just needs rest."

"If you say so."

But deep inside, he started to shake in fear, as he came to one conclusion.

The PAL Elite are no ordinary trainers.

Should he tell them to give up on following the other PAL Elites? No. It's highly unlikely the PAL Elite are actually allowed to kill them.

He never knew that if they continued, they would fall, one by one.

* * *

"Cynthia? Isn't it time for your date with Ash?" Phillip enquired. Cynthia was distracted by the Appeals of the Contest Round, and chatting with the Elite at the same time.

"Eeks! I forgot!" Cynthia jumped up, earning stares from the crowd. "I better go!" With that, she rushed out of the Contest Hall, preparing for her date.

"Hopefully, we bought enough time." Jude smirked.

"Yeah." Rosaline nodded in agreement. She turned back just in time to see Drew start his appeal.

Unbeknownst to them, Pakura had heard everything thanks to her good hearing. She suddenly had a splitting headache. Not the headaches people usually have from too much work, it's those headaches that renders her dizzy and unable to stand, and need to lie down.

"Are you alright, Pakura?" Wallace asked in concern, seeing Pakura grit her teeth slightly.

"I'm fine, Champion Wallace." Pakura replied. "I'm just fine."

**BP: A lot of explaining needs to be done again. (Pls read!) **

**I wanted to write what they did during lunch break, so all of them had a scene to themselves, but it ended up worse than Chapter 2. I know I'm going a bit too fast with the Ash x Cynthia thing, but my friend and I agreed it should happen in Chapter 3, and that's the only way I can think up of. **

**The reason why Cynthia caught Ash is while Ash is able to detect stalkers, that particular time, he turned off his psychic aura so that he doesn't hear voices in his head all the time. Also, he thought he was alone, since everybody (except his Elites) are probably eating lunch at the moment.**

**The scene between Jasmine and Phillip was thought up on a whim. It's meant to show that he's an awkward person. Pairings for Phillip, Jude and Pakura are still open, and you are welcome to give me suggestions. My friend had already decided the pairing for Rosaline already. **

**I liked Eevee, so I thought Pakura should rescue her, and she follows the Leader along. Should Pakura catch her or convince her to return to the garden? You can decide if you want. **

**The readers didn't say anything about the Dragon Princess scene, so I put it up, hope you guys don't kill me over this. **

**And uh, I decided since Ash has all of the Eeveelutions, I may as well pair his Glaceon with Cynthia's to signify their relationship. His Glaceon may play a bigger part in future chapters, who knows?**

**And the scene where I wanted the Legendaries to have more spotlight ended up backfiring? Well, I'm not sure, but I hope you guys like the way I write, because I'm all out of ideas, and this seemed to be the best out of the bad ideas I have. **

**Forgive me for my pessimisms, because I used to be an optimist until I got my self-esteem lowered horribly by those people you call bullies during my four years of high school. You wouldn't even want to know what they had done to me. **

**And don't worry, Ash would try to figure out the mysteries after the date. For now, he'll just have to let his hair down, and enjoy himself at the date. I mean, I doubt Cynthia likes a worrywart in her dates.**

**Mari and Mami are NOT used to mock anybody. In fact, I have no qualms of same-sex relationships. I mean, it's also considered love, so why not? It's based on a former friend that had hurt me and my friends feelings!**

**Since mysterypink98 is starting her final year in high school, she isn't able to give me a lot of ideas since she is busy with homework and studies, so I personally ask you dear readers to please give me ideas for my next chapter, so I can fulfil my 12,000 word quota for every chapter. Please, I beg of you all to help me with this one.**

**This is in honor of mysterypink98, who gives me courage to post this chapter. **

**Please give me even more reviews for this chapter. Please review! *gives puppy dog eyes* **

**So please, once again, give me suggestions for my next chapter. *gives watery puppy dog eyes***


	4. Date,Exposed again,Talk, Dream, Question

**BP: Thank you all for the reviews, favourites and follows for last chapter! I really hope I do get more. I love the suggestions you dear readers gave me, I'll be sure to see where I can insert your ideas at some point! As requested, here is the list of the ages of the characters:**

**Ash: 19 years old (mentioned in chapter 1)**

**Cynthia: 22-23 years old (she looked like 18-19 in the anime so I added another four years)**

**Pakura: 20 years old **

**Phillip: 22 years old**

**Jude: 24 years old**

**Rosaline: 21 years old **

**I hope all of you would continue to give me ideas for my next chapter!**

"I hope she likes this dress." Ash sighed, as he took the elevator down to the floor where the Sinnoh Elites and Champion reside. Fortunately, the quarters were empty, as they are probably curious enough to check if Pakura is as good in coordinating as they say, or maybe they are taking a look around their region.

"**She will, alright." **Pikachu replied. **"After all, you asked for clothing advice from Jude, who is a supermodel."**

"**And besides, you handpicked the dress yourself. I'm sure she'll love it." **Lucario smiled.

"I hope you are right, Pikachu, Lucario." Ash carefully put the package outside Cynthia's door, knocked on it three times, and snuck away before Cynthia opened the door.

"**Can you imagine the look on her face if she realized you don't have to pay for it because you are a Hunter?" **Pikachu whispered, as they entered the elevator, and went back to their floor. Ash's mouth twitched in either a smile or a frown, but other than that, he didn't comment. He went back to his quarters to prepare himself.

When Cynthia opened the door, she looked around, puzzled, before looking down, and saw a package. Curious, she took the package in, laid it on her bed, and opened it.

She gasped at what was inside the package. Inside was one of the most beautiful dresses she had ever seen. It was entirely black, with a sparkly waistband that is located around the waist. The dress reached just above the ankle, but it hung in such a way she did not have to lift the skirt when she walks, and it's made of a soft and silky but flexible material, which meant her leg movements are not entirely restricted.

'At least I don't have to decide what to wear for tonight.' She smiled, as she went to the shower to prepare herself. After all, she can't go there smelling like Eau De Perspiration.

Cynthia was excited about the date, so she arbitrarily pressed the buttons on the control board, which ended up in her hopping from foot to foot as alternating jets of icy cold and steaming hot water assault her. She hastily adjusted the settings in the control board, and sighed in relief as the temperature of the water became just right.

'Hmm…what kind of shampoo, conditioner and body foam should I use today?' Cynthia was looking at the many options on the control board for her. 'PAL is sure technologically advanced. Even the train can be something to brag about.' Cynthia looked at the options carefully, and finally selected three options pertaining to shampoo, conditioner and body foam.

Once she was done, she placed her hand on a box, and a current went through her scalp, that straightened out, parted and dried her hair almost instantly, which saved her the time of brushing her hair, considering how long her hair is.

She slipped on some undergarments and the dress that Ash had given her, and put on some pantyhose and matching black high heels provided in the closet.

'Hmm….should I put some makeup?' Cynthia thought, going to the dressing table to check herself out in the mirror. She opened the drawers, and to her surprise, makeup and cosmetics of the latest brand for men and women laid there. 'PAL really tries its best to please its guests. I practically don't even need to pack my bags to stay here. Ok, let's see….' She looked at the makeup for women. 'I think I'll just put on some simple lipstick and eye shadow.'

When she checked herself out in the mirror, she thought she looked really nice. Thank goodness the others are out watching the Contest, or they are out exploring the beautiful region. Who would want to stay in the Battle Tower when there is so much to see in PAL?

* * *

'You got to be kidding me.' Pakura groaned. May's Double Performance Appeal with her Venusaur and Beautifly took a downhill turn when Venusaur's Razor Leaf accidentally severed the wiring in the spotlights, sending them crashing to the ground and the Contest Hall in partial darkness.

Now they are taking a break so that Phillip and some other crew members could go repair the lighting set again. 'Why do inconsiderate morons exist in this world?' Pakura rubbed her temples to ease her headache. Pakura rolled her eyes, and went outside for some fresh air and perhaps read a book that she brought along, while letting Sylveon and Skitty have free reign of the place.

The audience left the Contest Hall to get some dinner, while Phillip was high up the ladder working on the stage lights. Wallace and Fantina are talking to some other Elite members, including Jude and Rosaline, Gym Leaders and a few of the Champions who apparently came down since they had nothing better to do. Wallace was telling them about the amazing match he had with Pakura earlier, and Fantina was adding her comments as to it being the most spectacular show she's ever seen.

"Jude, could you pass me that stage light down there?" Phillip called from high above the ladder, interrupting his conversation with the other regional guests.

Jude simply took the spotlight on one arm with ease, lifted it above his head, and threw it upwards towards Phillip, the shock and awe of the other regional guests. What was more surprising is that Phillip caught it easily, and smiled his thanks, before returning to work. Jude nodded at him, before going back to chat with the guests. The topic somehow got to none other than the mysterious Champion Red.

"Red could've easily given a one hit KO to Misty and Brock's Pokémon, but he's the type to play with his food before eating it." Jude said, smiling. "I mean, what would you expect from someone who defeated all the five evil teams?"

"That was the reason why he is called the Silent Hero, right?" Steven asked.

"That's right." Jude's smile widened. "If you…Volkner, look out!" Out of the corner of his eye, the stage light fell off Phillip's hands and was falling towards Volkner. Before anybody could react, a trail of ribbon was wrapped around Volkner's waist, and he was pulled to safety, just as the stage light crashed at the spot where he had been seconds before. Volkner stumbled when he was pulled by the ribbon, and was prevented from falling over thanks to the ribbon.

Volkner realised it was a gymnastic ribbon, and he turned to see who had just pulled him out of the way, only to see a girl of alluring beauty unwrapping the ribbon around his waist, before recoiling it around the handle. She apparently returned to the Contest Hall. Eevee's eyes were shining in admiration.

"Thanks a lot." He stuttered out his thanks, being rather taken aback on who his saviour was. Pakura, however, was walking towards Phillip, who went down the ladder to apologize to Volkner.

"I'm so sorry, Volkner! I got careless since I was talking to Emolga while trying to fix the lights! It's all my fault!" Phillip was bowing repeatedly to him, fear evident in his eyes.

"**Sorry! I shouldn't have distracted Phillip!" **Although Volkner can't understand Pokéspeech, he could roughly tell what Emolga wanted to say judging by her expression.

"No, no it's fine, I'm unharmed anyway." Volkner waved off the apology.

"…" Pakura stayed quiet, giving Phillip an appraising look, before turning to some other crew members who were resting, and said, "You guys, could you take over for Phillip for fixing the lights? He's tired and he needs to rest." The crew members practically fell over themselves to complete the task she had given them. Pakura also threw two things at Phillip, which turned out to be a mini candy bar and a can of soda.

"Thanks, Princess." Phillip smiled in relief. Pakura made a gesture that is something between a nod and a shrug.

"You ok, Phillip?" Jude asked, as Phillip joined the group, munching on the candy bar. Phillip nodded, and the subject then changed to the upcoming fashion show where Jude and Elesa were scheduled to model the latest PAL clothing. Apparently, Jude chose Elesa to be the female model since he worked with her the best as they had known each other in Unova's modelling industry before Jude was accepted into the PAL Elite Four, which caused him to leave Unova for PAL. From there, he worked his way to become PAL's Top Model, and became a world famous supermodel.

"Why don't you guys come take a look? It's at night after the Contest in two days' time." Jude smiled.

The guests nodded, stating that they would come see the show.

"Pakura, can I have a word? Alone?" Rosaline was by her side.

Pakura shrugged, and they got to the corner of the Contest Hall.

"What?" Pakura asked irritably.

Rosaline bit her lip, and passed the paper containing the prophecy to her.

Pakura raised her eyebrow as she read the poem. It seemed that the poem foretold a person with a usually quiet personality, is hiding a lot of secrets, and is out for revenge.

"Anyway, how's your Dragon Duo case going?" She decided to change the subject, choosing not to mention what she deduced from the poem. She passed the paper to Sylveon to read, and Skitty hopped onto the former's back to read the prophecy.

"Not very good." Rosaline admitted. "I can't seem to find a lead on either of them, other than the fact that the Dragon Princess is still alive. I tried to follow her, but she disappeared in the forest and suddenly I couldn't even detect her, and I don't know why!" She was getting rather frustrated with the case because she had been working on it for three years, but didn't find out much.

"Right….." Pakura drawled sarcastically. "Tell me something I don't know."

Rosaline seemed to realize she told Pakura this like a week ago. "I wonder why I can't detect her with my psychic powers."

Pakura sighed, and shook her head. It's obvious why Rosaline was unable to detect the Princess. The Dragon Duo was also one of the strongest psychics in PAL, so it's likely the Princess is able to block out her presence from Rosaline's psychic power, since the Dragon Duo, in terms of psychic power, is most likely much stronger than Rosaline's, which is more than enough to cancel her psychic power, thus why Rosaline was unable to detect her. Also, Rosaline is the easiest follower to detect, as she is neither quiet nor stealthy.

"What?" Rosaline blinked at her reaction.

"Nothing." Pakura sighed again, choosing not to mention this fact, before walking out to the garden out of boredom. Eevee watched, before deciding to stay put, since somehow, she knew the girl would return.

Outside the Battle Tower, she ran into Cynthia.

"Hi, Pakura." Cynthia look flustered. She looked at Pakura, whose hair was slightly messy since it has been put up for a few hours already, but yet she still looked regal and attractive.

"Hello Champion Cynthia." Pakura was about to leave her, when she blurted out, "How do I look?"

Pakura looked Cynthia up and down. She looked totally fine; in fact, she looked much better than she usually did. Pakura noted that Cynthia could pass as a beauty queen if she puts her mind to it. She is way hot, as far as female Champions go. It's clear she wanted to impress Ash, but she knew Ash didn't ask her out just because she is good looking, it's because of her spirit in battling and her personality.

"You look fine." Pakura replied, before walking off. 'I doubt Ash would care how she looks like; to him she'll always be beautiful even if she's caked with mud or something.'

Cynthia stared after her blinking, before she saw an Espeon in front of her. She bent down and petted the Espeon. It smiled at her before using Psychic on her. Cynthia gasped, but the Espeon gave her a reassuring smile.

She floated towards the forest, with Espeon behind her. She was lead to the same secret forest clearing that she found out Ash's secret. At this point, Espeon put her down. Curious, Cynthia entered the clearing, and gasped at what she saw.

The normally empty clearing has a huge table with a white tablecloth in the middle, and there are two velvet chairs on each end of the table. Utensils were also already set up, complete with a white cloth on the plates, and wineglasses and china teacups. It's like a normal table in a high class restaurant. There are also lights set up directly above the table which reflected off the dishware, giving it a sparkling effect.

"Do you like it?" A voice said form behind her. She turned to see Ash smiling at her, and holding out his hand. For once, he had discarded his hood, and was dressed in a tuxedo. He was holding a Pokéball, which indicated he had just returned Espeon.

"Like it? I love it. Thanks for the ride here. And the dress too." She allowed Ash to lead her to one of the chairs available.

Ash grinned at her. "If you liked them, you'll probably like the food even more." He got up, and disappeared to the part of the forest where the light didn't reach. A minute later, many dishes were floating towards the table, and landing themselves neatly in front of her. Ash returned to his seat. Ash thought she looked absolutely beautiful in the dress.

Cynthia gaped at the food. Tonight's dinner were exotic sushi, mashed potatoes, roast beef, steak and grilled fish.

"I cooked those myself. I hope you like it."

Cynthia took a bite of the roast beef, and her eyes lit up. It was the tastiest roast beef she ever tasted.

"Wow, Ash, I didn't know you know how to cook!" Cynthia said appreciatively.

"I watched the girls cook plenty of times." Ash replied, pouring Cynthia a glass of sparkling grape juice. "I've learnt quite a lot from the Elite members."

"Are you the youngest, Ash?" Cynthia took a piece of steak, and dunked it in mashed potatoes before eating it.

"Oh, yes, I am." Ash answered. "All of them are actually in their early twenties, while I haven't even reached 20 yet." He poured himself a glass of sparkling grape juice.

Cynthia giggled. "But you're the strongest among all of them. So, tell me more about PAL."

Ash hummed thoughtfully. "Do you know what Hunters are?"

"No, but it sounds interesting. Tell me more."

"A Hunter is a person that has proven themselves through rigorous examination to be an elite member of humanity. With the passing of the examination, a Hunter is rewarded with a license to go almost anywhere in the world or do almost anything. Hunters usually are the ones to protect PAL from criminals, Pokémon poachers, and abusive Pokémon trainers."

"What kind of examination?" Cynthia was curious.

"It's called the Hunter Exam, but people nickname it the Exam from Hell." Ash said.

"Why?"

Ash looked slightly grim. "Because the exam is so vigorous, people die from it."

"They die?" Cynthia looked surprised.

"Oh yes, they do. It's difficult to even reach the place where the Exam is taking place. The Hunter Exam is organized in a varying amount of Phases, with each Phase being designed to test the candidates' skills and potential—they are also used to reduce the number of candidates. It's really intense, many people either give up or die."

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is, but if you do pass, you get many benefits, such a not having to pay for public facilities and all such services are provided at first class, being able to travel around regions, and you can kill people too."

"Cool benefits Hunters have." Cynthia nodded, not even fazed by the fact that Ash is allowed to kill. She had heard the rumours that in PAL, Pokémon Poachers are killed once caught, and is probably by those Hunters that Ash is talking about.

"So, are they different types of Hunters?" Cynthia finally asked.

Ash nodded. "There are. For example, I'm a Contract Hunter, where I'm hired by corporations in order to do specific jobs, such as biological survey or ecological research or any other miscellaneous job."

"So you do various jobs?"

"Yes, it can range from anything, from investigating the current state of the environment the wild Pokémon reside in, to tracking down poachers and kill them if I must, because in PAL, they value the welfare of Pokémon so greatly, they execute people who poach or abuse Pokémon." That had confirmed the rumour that Cynthia heard. If Cynthia were to be honest, yes, she is slightly unnerved that Ash can take lives, but knowing Ash, he won't take lives unless it's to protect the ones he care about. Also, what's more important that he's here with her.

"There are also Star Ranks. Hunters who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in a certain field will receive a star, and exceptionally talented Hunters in more fields who have received a star, will receive two stars. Hunters with two stars who achieve extraordinary accomplishments in multiple fields will receive three stars." Ash went on.

"So, how many stars do you have?"

"Well…." Ash looked rather embarrassed. "I have three, like Paku."

"That's great, Ash!" Cynthia sipped her sparkling grape juice, which she enjoyed immensely.

"Thanks." Ash smiled, cutting himself a piece of steak. "The others are Double Star, but Phillip is close to achieving a Triple."

"Good for him. With his inventions, I think he'll get another Star soon." She held her wine glass like a toast.

"I hope so too." They clinked their glasses, and took another sip of their juice.

"So, are you going to get revenge on those that betrayed you?" Cynthia enquired.

"To be honest? I think I already did. I mean, now I'm the PAL's Champion, it's just that I'm waiting for the right time to reveal myself. I figure I'll drive them crazy trying to find out who I really am, and when I reveal myself, they'll go bananas. They are currently attempting to follow us and take some of their Pokémon back you see, since some of their Pokémon defected to us."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. May's Glaceon, Skitty, Blaziken, Dawn's Piplup, Pachirisu, Buneary, Iris' Axew and Emolga and Misty's Corsola. Glaceon, Skitty, and Axew went to Pakura, Piplup and Corsola went to Jude, Pachirisu and Emolga went to Phillip, Blaziken went to Rosaline, and I kept Buneary." Ash ticked them off with his fingers.

"As in the same Buneary that is showing affection to Pikachu earlier today?"

"The very same."

"I'm glad they chose to go with you and not to stay with the so-called trainers."

"Me too. I wonder if they'll still recognize them since during the four years, Axew actually evolved to a Fraxure, I'm sure he'll evolve into Haxorus soon with the way Pakura trained him, and Piplup already evolved all the way to Empoleon, although I'm surprised, since when Piplup was with Dawn, it didn't want to evolve and even tried resisting evolving into Prinplup."

"Things change, Ash. Like how your friendship with them unexpectedly fell apart."

"Guess so. But I think the bigger problem is, the mysteries surrounding PAL. Their so-called plan to usurp our Pokémon is minor compared to the mysterious happenings around PAL. We didn't notice it until the tournament because we were so busy with our daily lives, and when we did, we realized it could mean our lives and maybe even those of our loved ones. And the other Elites have families they care about too, and I am not going to have them lose their families." Ash said with determination.

"I like your spirit, Ash." Cynthia smiled.

"Thanks."

They continued their dinner, talking about various stuff, and Ash learnt that when he disappeared, Cynthia actually got help from the other regional Champions and Elite Four members, and to alert her in case he is seen in any of their regions. Ash apologized for the trouble he had caused, and Cynthia waved it off, since he is now sitting in front of her. He also learnt that Cynthia, like Lance, had enjoyed the train ride here, since the train compartments were comfortable and the food was delectable.

"So what was the best part about the food in the train?" Ash had asked.

"I think it's the sweet hot cocoa they had provided. I now have a soft spot for that beverage." Cynthia answered.

"Well, then now I know what drink to serve you next time." Ash said brightly.

Cynthia's smile widened.

After dinner, Ash used telekinesis to take the dishes away, and he disappeared to the same dark corner. He then reappeared with dessert- a strawberry shortcake, with some peppermint tea.

Cynthia took a bite of the cake, and immediately took a liking to the dessert. It wasn't too sweet, since the sweetness is diluted by the cream, which was almost tasteless, and it wasn't too bland either.

"You baked this yourself?" Cynthia asked in surprise.

"Actually no." Ash replied, feeling self-conscious. "I took this slice from the cake Paku made out of boredom before we came here. I liked the cake, you see, so I thought I'd share it with you."

"I'm glad you did." Cynthia replied, taking a sip of the peppermint tea. It went well with the strawberry shortcake, and it soothes her stomach at the same time. "This homemade cake is delicious, just like dinner."

Ash poured more tea in Cynthia's cup when she held it out. "This tea is great. I have a soothing feeling in my stomach after drinking it."

"It's peppermint tea. It usually helps with stomach problems and can also aid in digestion." Ash said absent-mindedly.

Cynthia continued sipping her tea. "I think I'll drink this more often."

Ash smiled. "Whatever you say, Cynthia."

* * *

"Ok, the lights are fixed, let's ask Pakura to return back to the Contest Hall." Phillip activated his CommuniDex, and typed a message to Pakura via the holographic keyboard.

"Did you make this, Phillip?" Wallace asked curiously.

"No, the first CommuniDex is actually owned by Champion Red. I only replicated it for the other members of the Elite, including myself." Phillip replied, as he hit the send button.

"Is that so? Do you know where he got an advanced equipment like this?" Volkner enquired.

"No, we didn't ask actually. We wanted to initially, but due to the situation, we didn't pry. Only Pakura knew how he got it. Even I don't, I was simply tasked by Red to replicate four more of these, and I just did what I was told." Phillip informed them.

"What kind of circumstances?" Flint questioned.

Jude hesitated. "You see, according to our Leader, Champion Red obtained it under personal circumstances. It's those kind of circumstances we want to protect our Champion from."

"He has already been through a lot, even though he's the youngest among all of us." Rosaline added. "We won't allow him to get hurt. He-"

"You guys are telling them too much." A voice cut her off.

The PAL Elite jumped, and turned to see their Leader with an unreadable expression.

"Sorry, Pakura." They said in unison. The other regional guests looked at them curiously. What was it that they wanted to say before being interrupted? And what had happened to Red anyway?

"Princess, we need you to make sure the lighting equipment is working fine. Would you do the honours by doing a small appeal?" Phillip requested.

Pakura glared at Phillip for the nickname, before taking out a Pokéball.

"Cinccino, time to shine." She threw the Pokéball, and the Pokéball opened in a flurry of white confetti, and out came Cinccino.

"Cinccino, use Hidden Power, followed by Swift." Cinccino's body became outlined in yellow and multiple light blue circles surround and spin around its body. Cinccino floated through the air while the circles surround its body. It started to spin in the air. As it spun, it used Swift, and the stars hit the light blue circles, causing the Swift stars to glow blue. It looked like a blue meteor shower.

"What an exquisite and unique display!" Wallace was awestruck by the small appeal.

"Ok, the lighting's fine." Phillip noted. "Aetna, could you call everyone back so we can continue the Contest?"

Pakura returned her Cinccino when the Hidden Power and Swift wore off.

"That was very distinctive!" Fantina said.

"Don't you have a case to work on?" Pakura scowled at Rosaline.

"Yes." Rosaline replied.

"Then get to it and stop procrastinating." Pakura snapped.

Rosaline knew the urgency to crack the case, so she said, "Yes, Princess." And left with her Espeon.

"And you two! Don't you have something to do?" Pakura turned to her other two Elites.

"Er….no." Phillip sounded uncertain.

"Then try and figure out that poem or something." _It may mean our life or death _was left unspoken.

"Yes, Leader!" With that, they rushed off with their Pokémon.

Pakura sighed, and returned to her post with Wallace and Fantina, just as the contestants re-entered the Contest Hall and the regional guests who came over to talk went to God-knows-where. Why do people like to delay things until the last minute?

* * *

"Cynthia, watch this." Cynthia looked at Ash curiously, as Ash charged icy cobalt blue bolts on his hand, and shot it toward the sky. Ash than used his psychic powers to make it explode in such a way it looked like fireworks.

Cynthia gasped at the appealing display. "Ash…it's beautiful."

"I'm glad you think so." Ash looked at the firework display. "I thought I could use my aura to create a nice show for you to see. I thought it up on a whim."

"It's spectacular. It could've passed as an Appeal in the Grand Festival….if this is performed by a Pokémon, that is."

"Haha, thanks, Cynthia."

Cynthia was rather disappointed that the date was over, and reluctantly allowed Ash to lead her back to the Battle Tower. On the way, they ran into Jude.

"Hey, Jude. Is the Contest over?" Ash asked.

"Actually, no. May's Double Performance Appeal broke the stage lighting, so there was a break while they fixed it. The lights had just been fixed, and the Contest had just resumed."

Cynthia grinned. Now there's an excuse to spend more time with Ash.

"I got an idea, Ash. Why don't we watch the Contest in the television, I want to see what kind of Appeal the other Contestants would come up with." Ash gave her a puzzled look. Since when was Cynthia interested in Contests? Nevertheless, he allowed her to drag him over to the elevator and pressed her button to her floor, while Jude pressed the button to their own floor. Only when they reached her floor (she stays at the 9th floor), she pulled Ash out as well, leaving Jude to go up to their floor alone.

Once at her floor, Cynthia turned on the TV, and sure enough, the Contest was just resuming.

"Alright, folks, due to technical issues, we had to take a few hours off while we fix it. And now that it is fixed, let's resume the PAL Contest! Next up, we will have one of Johto's Top Coordinator, Marina!"

A blue-haired girl that Ash remembered seeing in magazines and the video about Double Performances walked out onto the stage, and sent out her Jigglypuff and Feraligatr, where she had Jigglypuff use Ice Beam, and Feraligatr to use Aqua Tail. The Aqua Tail froze, and then Jigglypuff used Flamethrower while spinning, which led to a beautiful Ice and Fire spiral display. What's more, when the ice melted, it became sparkly drops falling onto the pair of Pokémon. The camera then showed the judges, where Fantina and Wallace seemed impressed, but Pakura frowned slightly, probably because for the first half, it's the same Ice/Fire theme Dawn always liked to use. However, she didn't give any comment when asked for her opinion.

"Why doesn't Pakura like most of the Appeals?" Cynthia asked.

Ash had the answer for this one. "You see, while Paku values the beauty of an appeal, she values the originality even more. She believed that if one wants to be a Top Coordinator, they have to have their own style, and give different ones for each Contest so that it'll be unpredictable. While it's nothing wrong to be inspired by another Appeal seen before in Contests or Grand Festivals, she thought it's stealing credit if they used Appeals that are based on them, such as using at least one exact same move, to be a Top Coordinator, and it's boring to use Appeals of the same theme over and over again, like Dawn did. And the trouble is, Paku remembered almost all the move combinations used in an Appeal since she had watched almost all the Contests and Grand Festivals."

"No wonder she won five Grand Festivals straight in a row. She must've impressed the judges by her unique Appeals, and never using the same combination twice."

"You're right. Even if she were to use similar combinations, she'll make sure the moves used are completely different."

They then turned to watch the next Appeal.

* * *

"We've said too much!" Jude ran his hand over his hair in frustration. "Now the guests are going to wonder what Ash had been though, and probably pry in private matters!" Purrloin was on his shoulder, trying to soothe him.

"I know." Rosaline replied miserably. "They were only curious about us since while we are world-famous, this is the first time they had met us in person, so naturally, they'll only ask questions about us."

"Can't blame you guys, I mean Jude, you are the social butterfly in the Elite, and the Gym Leaders from Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh recognized Rosaline as one of their challengers of their Gym." Phillip pointed to the other two. "You guys would do anything to keep a conversation."

"I don't know how they still recognize me. I mean, none of the Gym Leaders even recognized Pakura, and she did accompany me to my Gym matches. What's more, she challenged their Gyms before, and some even saw her twice."

"If it wasn't for Pakura cutting Rosaline off, she might have told everyone about Red's story, and they might put two-and-two together on who Red is!" Jude shouted.

"**Come on, Jude, Rosaline just wanted to have a topic conversation with the guests." **Espeon soothed.

"No Espeon, Jude's right, I'm sorry." Rosaline bowed her head.

"Next time we talk to the guests, we better not say too much about Champion Red, lest what we told them goes to those traitor's ears. While to Ash they are a minor problem, we need to respect his wishes of not being revealed until he said to do so. And I want them to be really surprised when they realized who exactly defeated all four of us was." Jude declared. "And none of us must ruin this. Especially you, Rosaline."

Phillip and Rosaline nodded.

In the silence that followed, delicious smells of their dinner came wafting from the dining room. "Come on, let's eat." said Rosaline. They followed her to the dining room and took their places, and started on the cream and rose-petal soup, while all their Pokémon started on their dinner as well. Ash's Pikachu and Lucario are with them, since Ash had left them at the quarters when he went on his date. Ash's Pikachu was feeding Buneary Pokémon food, which Buneary happily accepted with her mouth, and were talking and laughing together.

* * *

Back in the Pokémon Center rooms, a boy with oxford blue hair opened his eyes, revealing them to be black. He sat up, rather confused. The last thing he remembered was following Rosaline, before all went black. Next thing he knew, he was back at his house in Petalburg City, and his father found out about his betrayal to Ash, and grounded him for an indefinite time.

It seemed so real….so why is he in an unfamiliar room?

"You're awake." A voice said.

He turned to see Trip and Brock sitting by his bedside.

"Brock? Trip? What happened?" Max asked, confused.

"We are about to ask you the same thing. We found you passed out somewhere near the PAL's gardens. We tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't." Brock replied.

"I don't know, the last thing I remembered was following Rosaline, before all became black. Next thing I knew, I was back at home, and dad was so angry at me for betraying a friend that he grounded me for an indefinite time. And then, I am here."

"Oh, your dad grounding you was probably just a dream." Brock waved it off.

"I'm not sure….it seemed so real."

"Some dreams are." Trip said dismissively.

"So do you want to rest, or watch the Contest on TV?" Brock enquired.

"Huh, I thought it'll be over by now?" Max was surprised.

"No, we had a break since your sister broke the stage lights during her Double Performance Appeal."

"Oh." Max sat back on the bed. "Do you think she'll make it?"

"Considering her Appeal was one of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen, no doubt she'll make it despite the setback." Brock said.

"Alright, I think I'll watch the remaining contestants on TV." Max decided.

"So do you want anything?" Trip asked.

"Some Chicken Parmesan would be nice." Max said, smiling. "For drinks, I'll like the Ice Cream soda."

"Alright, I'll go get them. You just stay here and rest." With that, Brock left.

Trip went to turn on the TV for Max, and switched to the channel where the Contest is broadcasted live. He watched as Nando, a Coordinator famous for carrying a harp and playing music for both humans and Pokémon, sent out his Roserade and Altaria. He had Roserade use Grass Whistle, followed by Petal Blizzard, and then he had Altaria use Perish Song and fly around. When Altaria sang, a trail of gold light with multicolored sparkles in it comes out from behind its body, which hit the musical notes and the petals, leaving the petals to float around them glowing in gold and the musical notes alternating between the colours of the rainbow.

When it turned to the judges, Fantina and Wallace had expressions that stated that they were impressed with the display, but Pakura did not say anything.

"That wasn't impressive, how come Wallace and Fantina liked it?" Max commented. "I mean, I bet Dawn and my sister's Appeals are much better!"

* * *

"Well, music had always been Nando's unique theme." Ash said, watching Nando's performance. "But at least it's still better than most of the Appeals I saw."

"I have to agree." Cynthia replied, as Ursula walked onto the performance stage.

"Hey! That's Dawn's rival! It looks like Coordinators from all over the world came to this Contest hoping to win the Ribbon." Ash remarked. "Ursula made a very unique appeal during the Sinnoh Grand Festival five years ago, you know. She actually used evolution to her advantage."

"How do you do that?" Cynthia asked.

"Simple. She had two Eevee. And you know Eevee can evolve via the Water Stone, Fire Stone or Thunder Stone. She used the Water and Fire Stones to get the two Eevee to evolve into Vaporeon and Flareon while using Hidden Power. The Hidden Power changed colour, and it made a very original appeal." Ash explained. "She probably got high marks for that appeal."

Ursula sent out Flareon and Jigglypuff, and had Jigglypuff use Hidden Power, while Flareon used Ember. The Ember caused the Hidden Power circles to be outlined in red, and it floated around the two Pokémon. Jigglypuff then used Psychic, and the fiery Hidden Power circles glowed blue, and made into a few rings aligned parallel to each other, and both of them jumped through the circles, and landing on the ground with poise.

"Wait a minute, I think I know where the former and latter half of the Appeal came from." Ash said.

"Really? Where?" Cynthia asked.

Ash told her about Savannah, a Coordinator back in Hoenn who used her Flareon's Ember to get the Swift Stars to be outlined in red back in the Rubello Town Contest and Lilian Meridian, the Kanto Contest announcer, who owned an Espeon. While testing the stage lights, she got her Espeon to use Swift and then use Psychic on it, involving the Swift stars in a light blue aura and moving them so as to form several rings. She then got Espeon to leap and somersault several times through the rings and land gracefully on the stage.

"Do you think she knows about it?"

"Well, considering I told her before, I think so." Ash said uncertainly. Sure enough, Pakura eyebrows were furrowed slightly, but stayed silent when asked for her comment.

* * *

"Try and beat that Dee Dee." Ursula laughed, as she entered the backstage room and saw Misty, May, Dawn, Iris and Cilan. They were at backstage watching the Contest via the TV. Some of the Coordinators were standing in small circles, talking, and others were fixated on the TV.

"You didn't get all three judges approval, either." Dawn growled, looking in disgust at the male Coordinators drooling over the Princess of PAL, and the female ones swooning over Wallace.

"Yeah, that's right. So how can you say you did better?" May defended her friend.

"That's easy. I didn't ruin my combination or the stage lights during my appeal, now, did I?" Ursula laughed at their red faces, before walking away. "Take a picture guys, it'll last longer." She said as a parting remark.

"She's just jealous of your Appeals, May, Dawn." Iris said comfortingly.

"And besides, aren't you the Princess of Hoenn?" Cilan said to May.

"Oh yeah, right." May put on a smile, as Zoey walked past them to get to the stage.

"Hi, Zoey, you're competing in this to?" Dawn asked.

"Yes, I hope I'll win, the PAL Ribbon and the right to meet any of the Legendary Coordinators up close is one prize anyone would kill to have." She nodded to them, and walked out onto the performance stage.

"And here is our last contestant, Top Coordinator Zoey, from Sinnoh!" Aetna announced. "Just what kind of Appeal would she come up with?"

* * *

'Hmm….even Zoey is in, huh?' Ash thought, shifting his arm so that Cynthia would be more comfortable snuggling against it.

"Do you know who that is?"

"That's Zoey." Ash replied. "Five years ago, she won the Sinnoh Grand Festival. She beat Dawn by just a few points in the Finals, which earned her the Ribbon Cup and the Top Coordinator title."

"Wow, she must be good."

"She was great. And she was a good friend to Dawn as well."

Cynthia frowned slightly at the traitor's name.

Zoey sent out her Mismagius and Gallade in a barrage of flowers that moulded into one big flower before it dispersed into sparkles revealing Mismagius and Gallade. She first had Mismagius use Shadow Ball, and then Gallade used Psychic on the Shadow Ball while simultaneously using Psycho Cut on the Shadow Ball. The Shadow Ball dispersed, but the light blue rings of the Psycho Cut turned light purple, and Mismagius used Thunderbolt on them, giving them a yellow aura. Gallade finally used Sunny Day. The light purple rings glowing in yellow aura sparkled in the sunlight, making the Appeal even more dazzling.

Ash noted that even Pakura nodded at the Appeal.

After that Appeal, Aetna announced that the results of the 32 Coordinators out of 320 who would make it would appear at 7.30 am the next morning, so they would have to stay tuned.

Ash used his telekinesis to get the remote so he could turn off the TV.

Cynthia inwardly pouted when the Contest had ended. But she had enjoyed her first date very much. Ash had put a lot of thought into the date.

"Goodnight, Cynthia." Ash then leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, before heading to the elevator.

Cynthia grabbed his arm. "Now, Ash, I think we can do better than that." She said slyly.

"What do you-" He was cut off, when Cynthia put her lips over his.

Ash was mildly surprised when Cynthia stuck her tongue in his mouth. He inwardly shrugged, before deciding to use his tongue to play along, and wrapped his arms around her waist.

After a few minutes, they broke the kiss.

"And Ash, next time you want to kiss me goodnight, you better kiss me like this." She winked at the blushing Ash. "You are a pretty good kisser, put your skills to good use."

"G-got it. Well see you tomorrow." With that, he rushed off to the elevator, leaving a chuckling Cynthia to head back to her room.

* * *

'Ugh! Finally.' Pakura was heading to her dressing room with her Sylveon and Skitty, unaware of her little follower. 'It's already 10, I better get back to the Tower and feed my Pokémon some dinner.' With that, she entered her dressing room, and found a bag full of clothing that is addressed to her.

'As usual, Aquamarine is giving me some new clothing.' Pakura sighed, as she set the bag down, not knowing that the Eevee was opening the bag, and sneaking inside, happy that she found an opportunity for Pakura to bring her back.

Pakura peeled off the blue dress, and changed into a navy print eyelet top, complete with a pink pleated skirt. She also put down her bun, and combed her hair.

'Much better.' Pakura thought. 'That dress was so stuffy, and that bun was tight, it's uncomfortable.' She yawned, zipped up the open bag, took the bag containing the clothing and Eevee, and headed back to the Tower. She noted that the bag was heavier than usual, but attributed it to the fact that she was tired, so it seemed heavier.

She stepped out of the elevator to hear Jude say, "She put her tongue in your mouth?" while laughing at a red-faced Ash. Rosaline and Phillip looked amused too. Even Pikachu and Lucario seemed to be laughing at him.

"And here I thought it was guys who would try to put their tongue in a girl's mouth." Rosaline snickered.

"Well, excuse me if I never kissed someone before." Ash huffed.

"Now you have." Phillip said. He then saw Pakura standing there with Sylveon and Skitty.

"Oh hey, Paku." Ash greeted her.

Pakura gave a curt nod, before going to her room, leaving Sylveon and Skitty back in the sitting room. Once in her room, she took out all her Pokéballs, and unzipped her bag, about to hang her clothes and rest to ease her headache, when she decided that the Pokémon's dinner and her duties are more important, so she took her Pokéballs, and left the room. Eevee snuck outside though Pakura's door, as she closed the door. Pakura prepared the dinner for the Pokémon, and once done, Ash and Pakura sent out all their Pokémon to eat. While Ash stayed to chat with the other three Elites, Pakura headed to the kitchen to make more Poképuffs. Eevee headed to the kitchen to watch her.

Pakura sighed, as she removed the baked Poképuffs, and began frosting and decorating it. She placed the completed ones to the side, and unbeknownst to her, Eevee stole one, and ate it. Eevee's eyes lit up at the delicious taste of the Poképuff. She hid before Pakura turned to her direction.

'That's weird. Why am I missing one?" Pakura wondered. She shook her head, thinking she's just tired, and must have miscounted, and continued making the Poképuffs.

Beneath the cabinet, Eevee smiled, licking the frosting off her paws.

* * *

"You feeling ok, Max?" Misty asked, concerned. "You didn't wake up when Brock and Trip tried to wake you up."

"I'm fine, Misty." Max reassured the Gym Leader. "So how was the Appeal?" he turned to the girls.

"I think it went great." said Iris. "I bet their pictures would be the first to appear."

"Nah, I think I'm still behind Zoey." Dawn laughed.

"You're almost as good as a Top Coordinator, Dawn." Cilan assured her. "I mean, you only lost by a few points in the finals the last time."

"Thanks, Cilan. You're a good guy." Dawn smiled.

"Hey! What about me?" May protested.

"I think your title says it all, May." Trip replied, without looking up from the magazine he got from the lobby. He was gathering data on the PAL Champion, but not much information was given in the magazine. Evidently, he was a mysterious guy.

The group had a hearty laugh after that.

"Hey Max, I brought the Buffalo Bites you wanted for your snack." Brock entered the room carrying a plate. "I thought that Chicken Parm was enough to fill you, but apparently not."

"Thanks, Brock!" Max took the plate, and started eating.

* * *

"I'm going to go for a walk. Come on, Pikachu, Lucario." Since it was already 11, it's highly unlikely anyone would outside at the time, so it can give Ash some time to think. He wore his hood, and beckoned to his Pokémon.

"**Ok, let's go!" **Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder, and Lucario was at his side, as he pressed the elevator button to the lobby.

He walked through the garden, a cool breeze brushing against his hair, with his two Pokémon.

"Hey, Red!" A voice called out. Ash turned in surprise to see Gary and Paul.

"Gary, Paul!" Ash exclaimed. "What are you doing out here late in the night?"

"Taking a walk, just like you. The place seemed to give us an inner sense of peace. Surely you must feel the same way?" Paul asked Ash, falling into step beside him, Gary doing the same thing.

"Where's Tracey?" Ash asked.

"Oh, he's busy in his room sketching sceneries based on this region. He was so amazed by the beauty of the environment. So how was your day?" Gary questioned.

"A lot of stuff happened, actually." Ash admitted. "Shh, someone's coming." He pulled Gary and Paul into the bushes. Lucario and Pikachu dived in the bush next to theirs.

"That's Dawn and Iris! What are they doing here?" Paul whispered. Ash put a finger to his lips, signalling them to be quiet.

"You'll need a few new Pokémon, Dawn. I mean, since Togekiss ditched you, you only have two Pokémon, and the next day's battle require you to have at least three Pokémon." Iris said. "I heard this region has loads of Pokémon from all over the five regions. Try scanning your PokéDex for any Pokémon within vicinity."

"She deserved that." Paul mumbled. Ash and Gary nodded.

Dawn took out her PokéDex, and scanned a Trubbish when she activated it.

"Trubbish, the Trash Bag Pokémon. Trubbish prefer to live in dirty places like garbage dumps. It is said they were born when a chemical reaction occurred between an abandoned trash bag and industrial waste." The PokéDex read out the info.

"It's a Poison type found in Unova too." Iris stated. "Now, go get it!"

Dawn took a deep breath, and threw the Pokéball towards the bush with the ear-like tufts of the Trubbish.

"Ouch!" A voice cried out, when the Pokéball hit the ear-like tufts.

"Ouch?" Dawn and Iris said in unison.

A figure rose up from the bushes, and stepped out into the moonlight. It was a fat, green-haired figure wearing a snarl on his face, and his hairstyle was styled like a Trubbish's ears, which may be why they thought he was a Trubbish, when Ash detected the actual Trubbish sleeping in the trash bin via aura. Ash knew this was a male because of his flat chest. If not, he would have thought of him as a very ugly girl. Ash thought he was wearing the most mismatched outfit he had ever seen, and was that a skirt he's wearing? Ash wanted to puke at the sight of the short skirt that showed off his flabby thighs. He was wearing makeup as well, and he had the impression that the eyeliner he had on was tattooed.

"What kind of outfit is that?" Gary asked quietly.

"Beats me." Paul muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

'He must be one of those ugly, cheapskate entertainers they had in the nightclub Jessie and James went.' Ash thought. He made a mental note to get Pakura or Rosaline to investigate the nightclub, and maybe shut it down.

"How dare you hit me, the nightclub's best entertainer Mari!" he screeched in this high pitch voice, chasing Iris and Dawn all the way back to the Pokémon Center.

It was rather comical to watch Mari chasing them, and all of them had to muffle their laughter in their hands. Once they were sure they were gone, the trio got up from the bushes, laughing their heads off.

"Oh My God, that was hilarious!" Gary laughed until tears fell from his eyes.

"Indeed." Paul was snickering. Even Pikachu and Lucario are openly laughing.

"**That Mari guy did look like a Pokémon." **Lucario mused.

"**You're insulting all Pokémon here, Lucario." **Pikachu mock-folded his arms.

"**Sorry." **Lucario apologized.

"So, Red, before we were interrupted, what did you want to tell us about your day?" Paul tried to suppress his laughter long enough to ask the question.

"To start, I want to show you this video." He showed them the clip that Pakura had sent over this morning.

"So they are trying to take back their Pokémon, am I right?" Gary raised his eyebrow.

"Pretty much sums it up. Knowing Cilan's detective skills, it's most likely they know which Pokémon went to who already."

"Do you want us to handle them?" Paul smirked.

"Although I think my Elites can handle them by themselves, it'll be nice for you to help." Ash nodded, leaving them to look at each other with evil smiles on their faces, already planning on how to get back at them.

"Second thing I want to show you is this." He showed the poem that Rosaline had written earlier. Paul and Gary read the poem with apprehension on their faces.

"Someone is definitely out for revenge, but against who is unknown." Paul said thoughtfully.

"We'll help you in any way we can, Ash." Gary nodded.

Ash smiled appreciatively. "Oh yeah, and Cynthia found out my identity. She followed me during lunch, and Pikachu told me to take off my hood, and that's when she caught me. I spent almost the whole evening with her."

"Was it a date?" Gary asked eagerly.

Ash nodded.

"Looks like Champion Red had a new girlfriend." Paul said kind of sarcastically, but in a nice way. "So how was it?"

Ash told them every single detail about the date, and how Cynthia wanted to watch the Contest, which had taken a break since May had broken the stage lights, earning laughter from his friends, which caused him to pause before he continued about how he kissed her goodnight on the cheek, but Cynthia grabbed him and shoved her tongue in his mouth, and he decided to go along.

"Well, well, well, someone has finally grown up." Paul laughed. "You liked it, didn't you?" Ash's red face confirmed his suspicions.

"Congratulations, Ash." Gary said, before covering his mouth, realizing his mistake. "Sorry."

"That's ok, Gary. I think no one heard you…" he trailed off when he distinctly heard a twig snap.

"I spoke too soon." Ash groaned.

"You mean someone else is here?" Gary asked, surprised. Both Gary and Paul only heard a faint noise, since they didn't have enhanced hearing like the PAL Elites, and they were about to dismiss it as the wind.

"Yeah. Let's go find out who."

Lance stiffened. He was on his way back to the Tower, as he himself was so caught up in exploring the region he didn't realize it was midnight until he checked his Pokégear. He saw Red with two others, but paid them no mind until he heard one of them call him "Ash", which peaked his curiosity. Could he be the same Ash that disappeared four years ago? In his surprise, he stepped on a twig, which snapped. It was a small twig, so it wasn't loud, and he hoped that they didn't hear it.

However Red had turned in his direction, apparently hearing the twig snap somehow, and Lance knew he had to escape. He only had time to turn and run before he was slammed against the tree trunk, a dagger pointed at his throat.

'First the Dragon Princess, now Red.' Lance inwardly sighed.

"How long were you standing there?" Ash asked coldly.

Lance was astounded by his tone. He noted Pikachu was looking at him with recognition, while Lucario was staring at him with the same intensity Ash had in his icy tone. The two boys were standing behind him, watching the events that is unfolding.

"Answer me!" Ash hissed.

"Well, I heard some snippets of your conversation, but paid them no mind until he..." He indicated Gary. "…called you Ash." Lance replied.

"So you heard the last part loud and clear, didn't you?" Ash sighed, lowering his dagger.

Lance nodded. "So, Ash, is it really you?"

"You'll have to keep this a secret if you want to know." Ash replied flatly.

Lance nodded again. 'I don't want to know what Red can do if I told.'

Ash turned to the other two, who nodded their heads, and he slowly removed his hood.

Lance almost stumbled to the ground. He looked older, but he could recognize him anywhere. "A-Ash! It is you!"

"That's right." Ash said tonelessly.

Lance noted that Ash had a mature look to his appearance as well. He's now almost as tall as him, and had a trim, slightly athletic figure. However, he noted that Ash didn't wear a smile on his face, and neither was he enthused about seeing him again, unlike the last time they met the second time in Hoenn, despite the dire situation. What had happened to him during the four years?

"But how?" Lance asked in disbelief. "And why? We were so worried! What happened?"

The trio looked at one another, before Ash gave a small smile. "Some things are better left unanswered, Lance." With that, he left, with Paul following.

Gary stopped, and said to Lance, "Whatever you do, do not ask Misty, Brock, May, Max or any of the people they associate with for answers." He nodded to Lance, before leaving.

Lance watched them leave, frowning. What did they do to Ash that caused him to be like this?

* * *

"Well, now he knows your secret." Gary said. "What are you going to do about it?"

Ash smirked. "Do you really think I don't have something about Lance too?"

That got their interest. "What did you have?"

"If he tries to tell, you may as well tell him that I can tell everyone about the Blackthorn City incident. I know for one the incident is most likely kept a secret, judging from the fact that both Clair and Lance are discussing it in private and not with their fellow Johto Gym Leaders or their Kanto/Johto Elite members."

"**Oh, you mean you are going to use the information you got from the conversation?" **Pikachu asked.

"Yes, buddy, I'll use it, but only if he forced my hand."

"You are one sneaky bastard, Ash." Paul commented.

"Hey, I learnt from the best. But of course, if he doesn't tell, I won't either. And I will know if he had told." Ash said. They reached the Plaza Hotel.

"Well, here's your stop. Goodnight, guys, and good luck for tomorrow's matches."

"Thanks, Ash. You too." Paul replied. Gary nodded, and they entered the Plaza.

"**You know, knowing Lance, he actually won't tell." **Pikachu said.

"I know, but you can't be too careless on who you trust. Look where that got me." Ash grimaced.

"**You're right. It's best to be always one step ahead." **Lucario remarked, as they entered the lobby, and pressed the elevator button, and waited for the elevator to arrive.

* * *

Eevee inwardly groaned. She wasn't fast enough to go through Pakura's door before it closed, and now she was sitting outside, patiently waiting for Pakura to open the door to her room. However, since it's night time, she is most likely asleep.

Just then, the elevator dinged, and a boy with black hair and brown eyes, who had a Pikachu and Lucario with him. They looked at her in surprise. The boy took one look at where Eevee was sitting, before knocking on the door.

"What?" Pakura asked irritably from inside.

"Paku, there's an Eevee sitting outside your room." Ash informed her.

There was silence, and then footsteps. The door opened, and Pakura poked her head out, looking around with a frown, before finally looking down at the Eevee.

"**Hi, Paku!" **Eevee was excited to see her. She jumped into a stunned Pakura's arms, and snuggled there.

"That Eevee seemed to like you a lot." Ash remarked.

Pakura looked down at Eevee who was already fast asleep. 'What is she doing here? Haven't I left her at the garden earlier?' Her frown deepened.

"Well, goodnight, Paku." Ash then returned to his room.

Pakura closed the door behind her. 'Well, Eevee can stay for tonight. I'll just bring her back in the morning.' With that, she set Eevee on the bed, proceeded to turn on her computer, and started surfing the Internet, while deciding on who should make it to the battle rounds of the tournament so that she can send an email by 2am, and they can computerise the results, and be broadcasted by 7.30 am, as the final decision was hers. She had the papers where Wallace and Fantina recorded down their opinions on each of the Coordinators.

She popped a couple of aspirins and swallowed them dry to ease her on-off headache.

She checked the replies she got for the offer of trading Ash's Tauros for their Pokémon. As she opened the responses, she smiled at the Pokémon they had offered. It looked like she'll have to help Ash make some trades around the regions tomorrow.

* * *

_Ash found himself to be in a garden that is similar in appearance to one of the famous paradise gardens found all over PAL. He was in the middle of a sweet-smelling green meadow, and the sky was azure blue, with fluffy, billowing white clouds. The meadow stretched for miles, and there was a forest on one side, and a clear stream on the other. There were plenty of flowers growing all around him._

_He wondered where he was, since Pikachu and Lucario are not with him, and none of his Pokéballs are with him either. _

"_Ash, you've grown!" A woman's voice could be heard from his right. _

_He turned and gasped. "Mum?" He whispered. _

"_Come give your mum a big hug." She opened her arms. Without hesitation, Ash threw himself in his mother's arms. _

"_Mum! Where were you?" Ash shouted. "I heard you went missing the day I disappeared! Where did you go?" _

"_What do you mean, Ash? I'm always here." His mother giggled. _

"_You know what I mean, mum." Ash folded his arms. _

_His mum smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Ash, I didn't mean to turn against you. It's just that, ever since you started your journey, I only see you once you finished touring a region or whatever, and you leave shortly after visiting, yet to another new region."_

"_It's fine, mum. Just tell me what happened to you." Ash pouted, causing his mum to laugh. _

"_Alright, but promise me, you must stay strong at what I'm about to tell you." _

_Ash nodded. _

"_You see, Ash…"_

_Ash leaned in closer to hear what his mother had to say. _

"_I got killed by a man called Cyrus."_

Ash sat up on the bed, gasping. His head was in a turmoil. His mother was killed by the Team Galactic Boss, he'll kill Cyrus if it's the last thing he does! He knew he had the ability to have many visions in the form of dreams, which told him the events of the past. Sometimes, the past that he saw in his dreams wasn't his.

He checked the clock. It was only 3am, and he still had a few more hours before everyone wakes up for breakfast.

Without waking Pikachu, he went to the sitting room to clear his head, and to his surprise, he found Pakura reading, and she was still in the outfit she changed into after the Contest.

"What are you doing up so early?" Ash asked dumbfounded.

Pakura calmly closed her book. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I can't sleep." Ash replied. "Nightmare."

"Want to talk about it?" Pakura said, raising her eyebrow.

Ash sighed, and told his Leader everything about his dream.

"Ash, if you are going to cry, fight against it. If you're regretting, walk forward. If you only complain, you'll never be able to stand back up, you know." Pakura said. "A family's death is usually hard, yes, but that just means you need to become stronger, in their memory." She drank the cup of hot cocoa she had on the table.

"Speaking of family, how did your family die, Paku?" Ash was curious.

"So what else? You distinctly looked disturbed earlier tonight before you left for your room." Pakura asked as if she hadn't heard the question.

"Can't really hide anything from you, can I?" Ash laughed. "Well…." He then told Pakura about his walk, including the part where Lance found out his identity.

Pakura frowned. Now that is a problem. But she had to admit privately that the part where Dawn threw a Pokéball at this Mari guy sounded funny.

She decided to change to a topic that would take his mind off the nightmare. "So, how was your date?"

Ash then told her everything that he had set up, how Cynthia loved the dinner and dessert, and the fireworks, and how they snuggled in the couch to watch the Contest before kissing each other goodnight. Pakura was mildly surprised by the fact that they already moved on to French Kissing.

"You two move pretty fast." She commented.

"So how about you? Have you dated before, Paku?"

That question made Pakura hesitate, before she admitted, "Once."

"Really? And what happened?" Ash asked curiously.

"I don't want to talk about it." Pakura said tonelessly, before heading back to her room, closing the door behind her.

'I wonder what happened in her relationship.' Ash thought, before returning to his own room to try and get some sleep. 'And why do I have the feeling she evaded the family question on purpose?' It was 15 minutes later before he found sleep.

The rest of his slumbers were filled with disturbing dreams. His former friends laughing at him for being weak, and for some reason, his Elites weren't there with him, Cyrus stabbing his mother in the heart, with her screams echoing in the air, and he woke up yelling for his mum to run as his vision was filled with red. His yells woke Pikachu and Lucario up in the process.

**"What's wrong, Ash?" **Pikachu yawned, rubbing his eyes.

**"Yeah, what's with the yelling so early in the morning, master?" **Lucario stretched himself.

"It's nothing." Ash sighed, once he realized it was just a nightmare.

Dawn was breaking through the windows. PAL seemed to have a misty, haunted air about it today. He had a headache and he must had bitten his check during the three and a half hours of sleep he had. His tongue probed the ragged flesh and he tasted blood. Slowly, Ash dragged himself out of bed and into the shower, and cleaned his teeth. Once he was clean, he wore a white shirt with navy blue pants complete with a midnight blue hoodie and his usual cap, took his Pokéballs and headed to the dining room with Pikachu and Lucario. He noted that Pakura's Pokémon are already out eating breakfast, and sent out all his Pokémon to join them. While the table was empty, there was a long board off to the side that held at least twenty dishes.

He loaded a plate with eggs, sausages, batter cakes covered in thick orange preserves, hash browns and some French toast with added maple syrup.

As he gorged himself, he watched the sun rise over the PAL region. His mind wandered to the events that had happened yesterday. Within a span of a day, he had been exposed to both Cynthia and Lance. He trusted Cynthia, yes, because she's his girlfriend now and had the right to know, but why did he stupidly reveal to Lance who he was without even thinking? He'll have to avoid contacting with the other regional guests for now.

He was also having the impression that Pakura is hiding something from him, but what is it?

The other three Elites came out of their room, bided Ash good morning, sent out their Pokémon to eat, and started to fill their plates. They themselves were wearing different clothing as well, though unlike Ash, it's only a change of the shirt or pants.

"So, you guys all ready for the next round?" Jude asked.

"I'm always ready!" Rosaline said eagerly. "I wonder who our next opponents are. I'm going with Medicham, Blaziken and Flareon this time."

"I think I'll go with Scizor, Magnezone, and Jolteon." Phillip looked at the said three, who were cheering.

"Then I'll go with Bisharp, Houndoom, and Gorebyss." Jude said.

"What would you go with, Ash?" Rosaline asked.

"I think I'll go with Unfezant, Gardevoir, and Salamence." Ash ticked off.

Just then, the elevator dinged, and Ash choked on his orange juice when Cynthia stepped onto the quarters.

"Cynthia, what are you doing here?" Ash wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.

"Having breakfast with my boyfriend, what else?" Cynthia giggled, as she sat down next to him and filled her plate. Ash blushed, it's not as if he's complaining, he liked it actually. The other three didn't seem bothered by it, if Jude smiling and waving was any indication.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh just asking each other what Pokémon we'll be using for this battle, nothing much." Phillip waved vaguely.

"So what are you going to use, Cynthia?"

"I'll use Milotic, Glaceon and Togekiss." Cynthia listed out.

The elevator dinged again, and Pakura walked in carrying the same Eevee from last night. The said Eevee was licking her face happily. Pakura was also in another trainer outfit, this time in a baby pink bow blouse complete with a navy blue tennis skirt.

"Where did you go?" Ash asked.

"Tried to put Eevee back to the garden." Pakura mumbled.

"And what happened?"

"Every time I tried to leave, she simply followed me like a magnet. She clung to my leg once, and when I tried to shake her off, she simply tightened her grip. So I gave up and brought her back here."

Ash knew that Pakura could easily outrun Eevee or shake her off within seconds, but she didn't have the heart to hurt Eevee, whether physically or emotionally. Pakura went to the kitchen, and Eevee blinked before following her. Ash had to laugh at how Eevee was following her like a lost Growlithe.

"Have you caught her?" Rosaline enquired, as Pakura returned from the kitchen carrying a bowl.

Pakura shook her head, meaning the Eevee is still wild. She filled the bowl with breakfast, and offered it to Eevee, who pounced on the food. As Eevee ate, she hoped that Pakura would catch her soon.

* * *

Lance was sitting with his Johto Elite (except Bruno, since he chose to stay at the third floor) eating breakfast while his members chatted away. His mind was still on the conversation he had last night with Ash and two other boys. Ash seemed different, no longer the enthusiastic, energetic, adventurous, willing to risk his life boy he had met in Johto and Hoenn.

He knew something must have happened between Ash and his former travelling companions. If not, why would the boy advise him not to go to them for answers, and Ash say that it's better if he doesn't know?

"You ok, Lance?" Will asked. "You've been quiet since you returned to the quarters last night."

"It's nothing."

"I can tell it's not nothing, Lance. So spill. Did Pakura call you another name?" Karen asked. Will sniggered at the memory.

"It's just that….er…guys, if you want to know something about a person but dare not ask the person himself, what would you do…besides using psychic power." He cut Will off just as Will was about to answer. Will closed his mouth.

"I'll ask the person closest to him for answer, of course." Koga replied. "Why the sudden question? You want to know something about someone, Lance?"

"Yeah…" Lance said slowly. "He said something I'm curious about, and his friend said something puzzling related to what he said. I would like more details so that I know why he said it…" He trailed off when he realized how lame he sounded.

"Well, I suggest you don't ask the person himself or his friend. Ask someone else." Koga advised. "It's highly unlikely you'll get any information if you ask the two you mentioned earlier."

"And if you want to find out who is the closest person, just think about who you think the person would trust the most." Will answered. "Who is it, anyway?"

"It's Champion Red." Lance muttered.

"Oh, then I suggest you go to Pakura." Karen said. "Wallace told me that Phillip told him about how the watch devices they wore were replicated by him, and Champion Red having the first one, and only Pakura knew how Red got it. So I think she's the best option."

Lance groaned. Of all people, the best option had to be the one that he disliked for calling him "useless deadweight" after the Aerial Ace incident.

* * *

"So, looks like we're going first this time, Ash." Cynthia commented. "And this time, it's against May and Whitney."

"**Well, looks like May and Whitney won't be making it to the Top 128." **Pikachu remarked. Pikachu felt bad for Whitney, because if he wanted to take May down, he'll have to take Whitney down as well.

"**Well, Master, it looks like the taking-down-the-traitors streak has started." **said Lucario.

"Indeed." Ash replied.

"_Papa, use me for this battle." _Manaphy said from his Pokéball.

'Are you sure, Manaphy? I think Unfezant, Gardevoir and Salamence would be more than enough to take them down.' Ash said through telepathy.

'_Yes, Papa, use me for this battle please.' _Manaphy pleaded. Ash could almost see Manaphy give him the puppy eyes.

'Alright, I'll replace Unfezant with you. I'll use her next time.' Ash told Manaphy.

'_YAY!'_ Manaphy was cheering so loudly, it gave Ash a brief sharp pain through his head.

"Are you ok?" Cynthia asked, as Ash stumbled.

"I'm fine. It's just that Manaphy was too loud in his cheering." Ash smiled.

"It looks like I'm against Koga and some guy called Jon Dickson." Rosaline looked at the board.

"Jon Dickson?" Ash went over, and sure enough there's a picture of him. "He won the Silver Conference 8 years ago." Rosaline made a brief humming noise, apparently impressed.

"I'm up against Misty and Brock." Jude had found his picture. "It'll be interesting to have a battle with a fellow Water Master."

"Wannabe, more like." Phillip said dismissively. "Hey, look, Pakura's up against two people I don't know."

Ash looked at where Pakura's picture is, and smiled, as he recognized Virgil, the winner of the Vertress Conference four years ago. His smile widened when he recognized Bianca, the sweet but airheaded trainer back in Unova, who would knock him and Pikachu into the water whenever she was running aimlessly, screaming for everyone to get out of the way.

"**It seemed nostalgic, having all the old friends and rivals coming together to compete in one tournament." **Pikachu grinned. **"Isn't it, Ash?" **

"Definitely." Ash nodded. 'So it looks like we're going in this order: me, Rosaline, Pakura, Phillip, and finally, Jude.'

Meanwhile, Pakura spotted someone practicing for their match, and had their Pokémon use Bubble Beam. She spotted something suspicious through the reflection from the bubbles. She sighed, and sent a message to all the other Elites via the CommuniDex except for Ash. She didn't want Ash to worry about this matter.

Once the other three received the message, they silently nodded at one another. Ash, being too engrossed in talking to Cynthia, did not notice this fact.

* * *

Phillip read the message, and grimaced. 'This is like a Chess game, where Ash is the King. Once he falls, it's all over. So the three of us, Jude, Rosaline and I, the Knights, must protect the King. Pakura is the Queen. Our most powerful piece.'

Phillip narrowed his eyes. 'I may not be the best in combat, but what they don't know is that my traps killed more people than Jude or Rosaline ever did. In fact, were we to collate our kill lists, I'll be just behind Pakura. It's no use to hide among the audience, everyone has a unique aura signature. As long as we sense killing intent among the mass of aura, we can find them.'

No matter what, they have to protect their Champion.

And he knew that there'll be some people who won't leave the Battle Arena alive.

* * *

"Ash, why don't we go to the garden for a bit of fresh air before the battle?" Cynthia suggested. "I think it may do us some good before our battle."

"Sure, why not?" Ash shrugged. As they walked around the garden, they watched the various trainers from all over the world giving some last minute training to their Pokémon. Ash recognised most of them from his travels from Kanto to Unova.

'The past really had a devious way of catching up to you.' Ash thought, wearing a wry smile on his face.

"Where's that bitch?" May fumed. She was storming towards the Battle Arena lobby to look for a certain judge in the PAL Contest.

"Yeah, how come we didn't make it in the battle rounds?" Dawn was also furious. The other traitors fell behind, as they didn't want to be in the line of fire when they unleash their anger at the judge.

Ash watched as they stalked past him and Cynthia, most likely looking for Pakura.

"What happened?" Cynthia asked.

"They must've received the results of the PAL Contest." Ash muttered. "And they probably blamed Pakura for not putting them into the battle rounds, since the final decision is actually hers."

"But their Appeals weren't good at all, I mean at least Dawn's wasn't since she ruined her Appeal when Mamoswine was too heavy for the slide, thus breaking it."

"You tell that to them." Ash said. "Dawn must've thought she was some big shot since she won the Wallace Cup and made it to the final round of the Sinnoh Grand Festival."

"And May?" Cynthia enquired.

"Known as Princess of Hoenn by some citizens of the Sinnoh region." Ash promptly replied. "It got to her head, since her former Glaceon stated she was boasting about being upgraded to the Queen of Hoenn someday."

Cynthia was disgusted by their behaviour. They let their achievements get to their head, which would lead to their downfall.

"Come on, let's go, I think the battles are starting soon." Ash said, offering his hand.

Cynthia nodded, took Ash's hand, and walked back to the Battle Arena together.

It wasn't very crowded, save for the other regional Elites, Champions and a few other trainers, as they still have half an hour before the tournament officially started.

* * *

"So what if it isn't original?" May yelled. "What matters that it's beautiful, that's what Contests are about! I bet you were biased against us because you don't like us, right?"

Pakura sighed for the umpteenth time. The reason why she didn't let them in is for two reasons: They screwed up the Appeal and the Appeals weren't original. And she didn't fancy getting shouted at so early in the morning. She simply ignore them, and continued petting the wild Eevee, and talking to her Pokémon.

Dawn had apparently snapped, as she reached for Pakura's pink Pokégear that was next to her (Pakura didn't fancy her CommuniDex receiving all the messages and phone calls she usually got from the people she is forced to keep in touch with, so she got a Pokégear for herself.)

She then put the tiny little pink thing on the floor and crushed it into a lot of pieces beneath the heel of her boot, before Pakura turned her head and realized what she did.

* * *

"You're still mad about the nightclub entertainment, aren't you?" Ash asked Jessie and James. They had gleeful looks on their faces when Ash had told them what happened with Mari, Dawn and Iris.

"Of course! I mean, they made a poor imitation of us." Jessie said. "Their singing was horrible too!"

"In fact, when they tried to do a strip tease, the manager suddenly said 'that's all for tonight folks'. That's when we stormed out of the nightclub." James mentioned. "Naturally, we are glad that Mari got hit by a Pokéball because his hair looked like the ears of one!"

"Speaking of which Jessie, didn't Red hit you in the face with a Pokéball that one time in the Pokémon Tower at Lavender City?" Meowth asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry I heard noises so I thought it was a Pokémon. It can't see anything below since it was dark so all I saw was fire, and I thought Charmander's Flamethrower was working, so I threw a Pokéball. Then I saw a fireball going around in circles before it was gone."

"That was my hair on fire!" Jessie screamed at Ash, earning laughter from the others. "And I was running around trying to extinguish it. By the time it was gone, I had an afro!"

Ash's friends laughed at that, imagining Jessie in a burnt afro.

"Free haircut!" Jude sniggered.

"Anyway, we got duties to make arrangements in the arena, later!" With that, the trio left to prepare for the second day of tag battles.

"That's got to be one of the funnier stories from Red's travelling journeys." Phillip smiled.

"Indeed." Rosaline agreed. Cynthia nodded at Phillip's statement.

However, they were interrupted by a crunching sound, and they turned in time to see Pakura's Pokégear being crushed by Dawn.

"How could Dawn do this?" Cynthia gasped, as she saw the scene.

"**Yeah, Pakura did nothing wrong." **Pikachu said, sparks emitting from his cheeks.

Ash felt anger as he watched Pakura's device break into a million pieces, and was about to rush over to teach them a good lesson, but someone else had beaten him to it.

SMACK!

Wallace had backhanded Dawn, and it was enough to send her to the ground. That was enough to attract the other regional Elite Four and Champions' attention.

Ash, Cynthia and the other PAL Elite members looked at one another, nodded, and got closer to the scene, as Pakura rushed over to pick up the broken pieces of the Pokégear, glaring at Dawn in absolute fury.

"You girls ought to be ashamed of yourself, blaming others of your own incompetency in the Contest Appeal, and even breaking a judge's device out of your anger. I regret giving you that Aqua Ribbon all those years ago. And May, I'm embarrassed that I'm from the same region as you." Wallace hissed. Ash had never seen him so angry before.

"W-Wallace, how could you?" May was helping Dawn up.

"No, how could you?" Wallace shot back. "Why would you do something like this to Pakura? She wasn't the only one that didn't give you girls a vote, so why are you only blaming her? What's wrong with you?"

Wallace slowly shook his head. "That was real low of both of you."

May and Dawn looked down at the ground.

Wallace stared daggers at them. "I'd like for you both to leave now."

"Leave the tournament?" May asked, shocked. Dawn had started to cry at this point.

"No." Wallace looked heavenward for patience. "My sight. Get out of here."

May and Dawn, with a final stricken glance at Wallace's direction, hurried away, in the direction of the ladies room.

"May is so going down." Ash said to Cynthia.

Cynthia nodded. "I'll leave her to you then."

"**And Dawn's going to have to pay for that Pokégear!" **Lucario glowered in the direction they just left towards.

Wallace watched them leave dispassionately, before asking Pakura if she was alright. Pakura's expression couldn't be seen since she hung her head, and her fringe fell forward, thus shadowing her face. However she simply nodded when Wallace asked the question.

When Ash turned to his Elites, he noted that they looked slightly tensed, and swore that even Pakura had a slightly anxious look in her eyes when she finally looked up. He wondered what was going on with those Elites of his.

* * *

Ash filed in with everybody else in the VIP Box, and sat with his Elites, as usual. Today, however, he was sitting among the Sinnoh Gym Leaders and Elites as well. Not just with them, he was sitting next to Cynthia. When she saw there was an empty space next to him, she decided to sit down beside him. And the entire rest of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders and Elites had sat down with her.

His fellow Elites were sitting facing front, diligently waiting for the tournament to start.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the second day of tag battles!" Ken announced. "Would the first round contestants please go to the side of the battlefield?"

"Good luck, Red!" Rosaline, Jude and Phillip said in unison. Pakura nodded at him.

Ash smiled, before leaving the VIP Box with Cynthia, Pikachu and Lucario.

"From the Green side, we have Princess of Hoenn, May, and Leader Whitney!" May and Whitney walked out onto the battlefield, waving to the audience. Ash noted that May's movements looked rather robotic, probably still affected by what Wallace said to her.

"And from the Red side, we have Champion Cynthia, and Champion Red, our ever favourite Silent Hero!" The audience cheered and clapped as they still remembered their spectacular performance at yesterday's battle.

"Trainers, send out your Pokémon!" Evan requested.

* * *

(Meanwhile, with the PAL Elites)

"You can sense it, can't you?" Jude asked. Purrloin was sitting on his shoulder. She cocked her head at Jude's words.

The other three nodded, as they got up and left the VIP Box. When they reached the door behind the highest bleacher, they opened it, and reached the balcony.

"Whoever it is, it's probably after Red. I think they'll try to attack while he's in his battle, since his focus is on the battle, not the attacker." Phillip said grimly. Emolga was floating behind him with a determined expression.

"**I'll help out in protecting Ash!" **Emolga declared.

"That's sweet of you, Emolga." Phillip said.

(Flashback)

'_You got to be kidding me, right?' Pakura saw a few people hidden in the bushes dressed in citizen clothing, probably waiting for the right time to blend in among the crowd. _

_She noticed that some of them were hiding last minute weapons in their clothing. She would take them out right here and now, but she'll alert the trainers outside if she went and use her abilities to kill them, and she knew how nosy other regional trainers can be._

'_I can't alert Champion Ash, because he'll be distracted from the battle, and it'll give May an opening to attack his Pokémon. As PAL's Champion, he must not stray his attention from a battle just because of some idiots after his life. No, Ash has to show those moronic traitors the power he used to defeat me. The work he did to get his position all the way up there. As one of the PAL Elite members, if one is needed somewhere else, I will cover for him. And as the Leader, I will carry out his wishes, even if it meant going against my opinion.' _

_Pakura looked at the disguised assassins though the bubbles. 'They'll probably be scattered around the Arena. It'll be faster if we take on one section of the Arena separately.' _

(End flashback)

"Now, we can't let that happen now, can we?" Rosaline smiled. Espeon nodded.

"**Definitely not." **Sylveon nodded.

Pakura placed Eevee on Sylveon's back "Sylveon, I want you to take Eevee back to our quarters, and wait there until I get you."

"**Will you be ok, Paku?" **Sylveon asked, uncertain.

"Yes, after all, I still have Skitty." The said Pokemon nuzzled her in affection.

Sylveon nodded, secured Eevee on her back with her ribbon feelers, and rushed off to the Tower.

"Everyone, let's take one part of the Arena. Jude, take the North to East side. Phillip, take the East to South side. I'll take the rest. Be discreet when you take them out, we don't want to alert the audience that there are assassins sitting among them, since the audience are form various regions, and they have no idea how our region works. They'll definitely be alarmed when they suddenly die, but not as alarmed when they watch them killed. If necessary, Rosaline, I'll leave you to erase their memories. Try not to be seen. Our mission is to protect our Champion from being harmed by attacks if possible. Got it?" Pakura explained the plan.

"Got it!" The other three said in unison. Their Pokémon also let out cries of agreement.

"Let's go, guys." said Pakura, as they entered back, and dispersed.

* * *

Ash and Cynthia were facing their opponents, not knowing his Elites were getting to position to take out some…pests.

"Wartortle, take the stage!" May sent out her Wartortle.

"Lickilicky, I choose you!" Whitney's Pokéball opened to reveal Lickilicky.

"Gardevoir, lend me your aura!" Ash summoned the Embrace Pokémon.

"Togekiss, battle dance!" Togekiss appeared on the battlefield.

"Battle begin!" Evan put his red and green flags down, signalling the start of the battle.

**BP: And I'll end it here. I want to thank all the readers who threw in suggestions that made my 12,000 word quota possible. **

**I'll explain a few things as well, so please read (it's quite important)**

**Ok for those who have not figured out by now, Pakura's the deuteragonist in the story. That is why she had more appearances despite the fact that she doesn't really say anything in the story, unless when needed. I apologize if it seemed that Pakura is taking up too much spotlight. I'll try to feature her less in future chapters if that's what you guys want.**

**Also, Pakura has her own background story (her life before she became the Elite) which would be revealed later. Thanks to her, Contests would also be mentioned quite often due to her being a judge of a Contest, and Coordinators probably wanting to meet her and battle her, as she held the status of a Legendary Coordinator. **

**As the deuteragonist, she would be playing a big role in the story, and most likely have scenes to herself like the earlier chapters. Of course, Ash would have more scenes as well, but more than half would probably be with Cynthia since she's now going to help the PAL Elites with the mysteries in PAL. **

**I'll leave the guessing of who the tritagonist is up to the readers. **

**I never seen Wallace angry in the series, so he's probably OOC for hitting Dawn, but as he idolizes Pakura, he'll most likely stand up for her. Personally I think Dawn deserved to get hit by Wallace, since he was the one that thought she was a talented Coordinator back in Sinnoh, and to have his opinion of her change for the worse is a huge psychological blow. **

**About the broken Pokégear, she could have easily asked Phillip to repair it, it's true, but there is a reason why she won't be asking Phillip to repair it. The reason would have something to do with her background story, not because she had found someone else to repair it. She had quite a long background story, so I hope when it reaches that time, you all would bear with me. **

**Why only Pakura knew about how Ash got it was while the others knew the story of the betrayal, Ash didn't tell them how he got the CommuniDex. He only told Pakura because at that time of his teleportation to PAL, it was stated that Pakura was the one who took him in, thus he knew her the longest and was comfortable enough to tell her how he got it. He was also comfortable enough to tell her about his dreams and what happened in the walk.**

**And because Pakura was the only one who went after him in Chapter 2, only she knew that his mum went missing. So Karen was right in saying that Pakura is the best option to Lance if he wanted the full story, because while the others can tell him about the betrayal, only Pakura could tell him the story of his mother's fate. And I think it'll be troublesome if he asked one of the Elites, and have to ask Pakura again for the fate of his mum, so it's best to ask Pakura since she can tell the full story all at once. **

**Oh and the reason why I let Lance find out Ash's identity is because he had something to do with the Blackthorn City massacre (being one of the last survivors of the Dragon Clan), and via Ash's help, he'll probably find out who exactly did this to his home and why. Whether he forgive the culprit(s) for the crime remains to be seen, depending on the reason the culprit(s) had for doing this to his clan. **

**I'm trying my best to give Paul, Gary, Tracey, Jessie, James and Meowth more spotlight as while they are not one of the main characters, they are major supporting characters and they do play a role in the story as well. **

**Do input suggestions on how Paul and Gary can help Ash unnerve the traitors in their mission of following the Elites to take back their Pokémon. **

**Oh and like mentioned, Mari is one of the characters I created because a former friend of ours pissed me and mysterypink98 off, so we decided to create a character based on him and kill them off later on. Like I said, I have no qualms on same gender relationships or marriages whatsoever.**

**The PAL Elites would be wearing different casual outfits. I don't see how the characters in the anime can wear the same clothing for so long. Either their clothing is magic and never got dirty, or they had a lot (which is unlikely in Ash's case since I only see his mum make one set), so the clothes changing thing is to make things a little more realistic.**

**The traitors, like mentioned, is just a minor problem for Ash now, the bigger problem is the mysterious person that is supposedly out to kill them. To Ash, they are just probably getting in his way trying to solve the PAL mysteries. **

**And the Dragon Princess would of course play a bigger role from next chapter onwards. Her actual name would be revealed sometime after the Top 8 battles, so stay tuned. If you want a hint, you can always PM me.**

**Please give me suggestions on how to write the next chapter. I want to fulfil my 12,000 word quota, and I'm counting on my dear readers to give me as many suggestions as possible. I loved your suggestions for this chapter. **

**And also, I figured since Ash had so many Tauros, I figure to get him to trade for some other Pokémon. **

**As mentioned in the story, Dawn needed another Pokémon for the second day of her tag battle. **

**Pairings for Pakura, Phillip and Jude are still open. Rosaline's one had been decided a long time ago, and it's obvious who it is if you all read the story carefully. I don't know if the Dragon Princess (who would play a bigger role from next chapter onwards) would have any romance, but you're welcome to pair her up, I might consider. **

**I was rather busy with my exams so I had a little writer's block and it resulted into this chapter since half the chapter was written before exams and half just after exams.** **I hope this chapter was good enough for all of you. If you guys think it's bad, it's ok. Sometimes I have no idea what I'm writing either. **

**Suggestions for chapter 5 are more than welcome! In fact, I beg for them because I want to fulfil my "at least 12,000 words" quota. *Gives puppy eyes***

**Please give me as many suggestions, opinions and reviews as possible! *Gives tearful puppy eyes***

**But do give me suggestions on the following (Pretty please):**

**1\. The plot for chapter 5**

**2\. What Pokémon Dawn should have for her third Pokémon in the tag battle (or you just want her to battle with her two remaining ones)**

**3\. The Pokémon Ash should get for trading his Tauros, besides the Pokémon he already has (It's a first come first served basis, so I'll take the first 29 suggestions). ****I would also like to say that the Pokémon can be from any region, even Kalos (since the Pokémon originated from Kalos exists in PAL itself), but must not be the Pokémon that Ash currently has (or the Pokémon that he got over the four years. Please read Chapter 1 to find out what Pokémon he currently had, and chapter 3 to find out what Pokémon he had 'caught'.)**

**4\. What Paul and Gary should do to unnerve the traitors**

**5\. Pairings for Pakura, Phillip and Jude (you can also pair the Dragon Princess if you want)**

**6\. Rivals they should befriend. (****I don't know if the PAL Elites should befriend any of the traitors' rivals, as some (such as Burgundy) seemed too arrogant to me. If you have a suggestion as to which rival the PAL Elite should befriend, you're welcome to drop me a suggestion via PM or review.)**

**7\. How should Pakura handle Dawn breaking her ****Pokégear**

**8\. Any ideas you have for the story.**

**I hope to get lots of reviews and ideas from you all!**


	5. The Weapon, Answers, a mysterious story

**BP: Hi my dear readers. Can't say I'm not disappointed in the lack of suggestions, but I won't give up, and I'll make do with the suggestions I received to create this chapter. Thank you to those who have reviewed, favourite and followed my story though.**

May looked suspiciously at the Pikachu that was perched on Ash's shoulder. She thought the Pikachu had been Jude's at first since it was sitting on his shoulder the first time they ran into Red Satoshi. However, if Pikachu is sitting on Red's shoulder now, and Jude is nowhere near, she concluded that the Pikachu was actually Red's.

And only one person is known to have a Pikachu outside of his Pokéball, and that is Ash Ketchum.

May shook her head. Ash shouldn't be able to defeat Misty and Brock during the first day in the tournament. He'd have lost if Red really was Ash. Besides, that loser disappeared already, and probably died somewhere in the forests in a region. However, she knew she probably stood no chance against two Champions, but she won't go down without a fight, and knew Whitney probably felt the same way.

With that in mind, as soon as Evan put the flags down, she ordered Wartortle to fire an Ice Beam attack at Togekiss, while Whitney ordered a Gyro Ball at Gardevoir.

Cynthia countered with Flamethrower at Lickilicky, and Red told Gardevoir to use Psychic to send Ice Beam back to the sender. Lickilicky fell to the ground, slightly burned.

"Wartortle, dodge!" May commanded. That was apparently what they were waiting for, since when Wartortle jumped to dodge it, Togekiss flew in close, and at Cynthia's command, released a stream of thick purple liquid from its mouth at Wartortle, it hit Wartortle, and Gardevoir followed it up with a Shadow Ball.

"Are you ok, Wartortle?" May asked, concerned. Wartortle got up, but his face was purple and purple sparks emitted from him, indicating he was badly poisoned.

"Gardevoir, use Focus blast on Lickilicky!" The Focus Blast hit as Lickilicky was about to get up, and is super effective on Lickilicky. Whitney closed her eyes, as she thought of her next move.

"And it looks like Coordinator May's Wartortle has been badly poisoned!" Ken announced. "What would May and Whitney do to counter this setback?"

"Lickilicky, switch out, come back!" Whitney had returned her Lickilicky.

"And it looks like Whitney had switched out her Lickilicky. What Pokémon would she send out next?"

"Come on out, Clefable!" She sent out the same Clefable that she used to battle Pakura and Lance the other day.

"I'm not going to stand there and wait for her move." Ash said. "I'm going to attack May's Wartortle first. Gardevoir, use Moonblast, followed by Thunderbolt!"

"Oh no you don't. Wartortle, use Rapid Spin!"

"Togekiss, use Brick Break!" Togekiss used Brick Break on Wartortle. It was able to slow down Rapid Spin, but Wartortle still spun past Togekiss, and towards Gardevoir. By then, Gardevoir had fired Moonblast, and quickly charged a Thunderbolt, which fused with Moonblast, creating a pink meteorite that hit Wartortle. Wartortle struggled to get up, since the poison is taking its toll on him.

"Clefable, use Healing Wish!"

Clefable leapt into the air, and its body started to glow white. It then let out a burst of light blue, sparkling lights that rain down onto Wartortle, which regained his energy and cured him of his status condition. However, she fainted after the move.

"Clefable is unable to battle!" Evan declared. "Please send out your next Pokémon!" he directed the latter sentence to Whitney.

"Thanks, Whitney." May said.

"No prob." Whitney replied, though she was frowning. She quickly sent back out her Lickilicky, and it also regained its energy since the Healing Wish also heals those who take over the Healing Wish user's place. Lickilicky also recovered its energy, and its burns from Togekiss' Flamethrower also disappeared.

"**Who knew Whitney's Clefable knew Healing Wish?" **Pikachu said.

"**Whitney must have prepared this move specifically for this situation. She must've known that the moves we use have so much power it's unlikely they can stand more than four attacks. She's pretty skilled in her own way. Now I know why she was appointed as Gym Leader." **said Lucario.

'Hmm…while this is effective in removing the damage we caused so far, it'll only work once.' Ash thought.

"Alright, let's use our ultimate move. Wartortle, use Surf!" Wartortle summoned a huge wave that and jumped on top of it, and rode the wave towards Togekiss and Gardevoir. Ash and Cynthia's eyes widened. There's no way their Pokémon can dodge it.

"I got you now!" May smirked.

'I don't have time to switch to Salamence!' Ash thought. He turned to Togekiss thoughtfully.

"Cynthia, can your Togekiss use Steel Wing?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, why?" Cynthia said, puzzled.

"Hurry, ask Togekiss to use Steel Wing on the wave!"

"Ok. Togekiss, use Steel Wing on the wave!" Togekiss' wings glowed white, and it broke through the surf, which caused the wave to be cut in half, causing Wartortle to fall.

"Gardevoir, now's our chance! Use Charge Beam!"

"Lickilicky, use Wrap to prevent Gardevoir from using that move!" Lickilicky used its long tongue and shot it at Gardevoir.

"Oh no, you don't! Togekiss, get in front of Lickilicky and use Thunder Wave on the tongue!"

The Thunder Wave actually paralyzed the tongue, which caused Lickilicky to be unable to retract it. During this time, Gardevoir used Charge Beam on Wartortle, which is super effective, and causing Wartortle to faint.

"Wartortle is unable to battle!" Evan raised the Green flag.

"Wow, where you'd get such creative ideas from?" Ash asked.

"From you, of course." Cynthia looked at him as if it was obvious. "I just love your battle strategies. Crazy but effective."

Ash blushed. "Well, we better concentrate on the battle."

Cynthia grinned at his red face. "Well, Togekiss, let's finish it off with Brick Break." Togekiss took advantage of the fact that Lickilicky can't use its tongue to attack, and since it's weak to fighting types, it took a lot of damage. While it's getting up, Togekiss used Aura Sphere, which knocked it out.

"Lickilicky is unable to battle!" Evan declared. "Trainers, send out your next Pokémon!"

"**I take back what I said about them not being able to take more than four attacks." **said Lucario. **"They can't even take one or two attacks!" **

* * *

"I think it's a better idea if we take them out before Ash finished his battle, lest he returns to the VIP Box to find us all missing." Jude said in the CommuniDex. On the screen, it was split into three, showing Pakura, Phillip and Rosaline in each of the three sections. On the floor around him were the wet corpses of the assassins, and there were a huge puddle of water around them.

"I think Jude's right." said Rosaline. Espeon nodded.

"He had just finished his first round. We better be quick." Phillip agreed. Emolga was floating behind him, looking into the CommuniDex as well.

Pakura nodded.

With that, Jude deactivated the CommuniDex, and proceeded to create a bluish-transparent sphere around his target's head. Soon, the target began struggling for air, and eventually drowned, which alarmed the people sitting around him. He signalled for Rosaline via the CommuniDex, and Rosaline immediately teleported to him. Jude pointed to the people who saw the corpse, and she proceeded to erase their memories. Once this is done, they turned back to enjoy the match.

"Pakura said she's done with her section. She kept one alive and she dragged him somewhere."

"Well, I'm not surprised." Jude mumbled. "She's probably torturing him for information. Rosaline, are you able to modify their memories instead of just erasing them?"

"No, I'm sorry. I can erase memories, but I can't modify them. I'm not strong enough." Rosaline admitted.

"Phillip, are you done with your side?" Jude looked into his CommuniDex.

"Yeah." said Phillip from the dark corner of the stadium. "I was able to lure them together by telling them I got passes to meet the Champion and Leader up close right after his match. They then stepped onto the rope, and the barbed wires grabbed them by the next which slit their throats. But I think the stadium needed a bit of cleaning up." He looked at the corpses which all had a bloody neck. He had returned Emolga to her Pokéball for the time being.

"We'll clean it up before Ash finishes his match." Jude said. "If Pakura isn't back by then, we tell him she just left without telling us. She always does it so I don't think Ash would suspect." He finished grimly.

* * *

"Miltank, I choose you!" Whitney chose her strongest Pokémon as her final one.

"Venusaur, spotlight!" May sent out her second Pokémon.

Cynthia decided to stick with Togekiss for now. Meanwhile, Ash had returned Gardevoir, and had sent out Salamence in her place.

"Trainers from both sides ready?" Evan looked at both of them, as they nodded, signalling yes. "Alright, battle begin!"

"Miltank, start things out by using Attract!"

Ash groaned at the all-too familiar move. He knew that once Attract hits, it's almost over for him, since his Salamence is male, and Miltank is definitely a female. But before he could react, Cynthia gave a command. "You use Attract too, Togekiss!"

The Attract moves cancelled out each other, as May decided to use Vine Whip to attack Salamence.

"Salamence, use Dragon Pulse!" Salamence opened his mouth and a turquoise energy ball appears in front of it. He then shot it at the Vine Whip, effectively reflecting it away from him, and dealing Venusaur some damage.

"I thought Salamence usually can't lean that move." Cynthia said to Ash.

"His father was a Hydreigon, so he knew the move the moment he hatched from an egg. Thanks to that, he also knows Dragon Rage and Dragon Rush." However, as soon as he mentioned those moves to Cynthia, Salamence thought it was a command, so he fired a Dragon Rage at Miltank, who was commanded to use Gyro Ball on Salamence. When Venusaur tried to help by using Leaf Storm, Salamence countered with Dragon Rush.

"Salamence! I didn't ask you to use those moves! I was only telling Cynthia what moves you could use!" Ash was caught in between the urge to laugh or to face palm.

"**Opps, sorry, you said the moves so I thought it was a command." **Salamence said sheepishly.

"**Salamence, you should've listened carefully." ** Pikachu sniggered. Lucario was openly laughing as well.

"It looks like Salamence, by its own mistake, dealt severe damage to Miltank and Venusaur." Ken said, as the audience laughed, and cheered for Ash's Salamence.

"**Thank you." **Salamence smiled at the audience appreciatively.

"Ok, Salamence, concentrate on the battle and stop showing off." Ash said, which earned a big laugh from the audience.

"Venusaur, use Poison Powder!"

"Togekiss, Metronome!" Metrenome turned out to be Blizzard, and it not only blew away the Poison Powder back to Miltank and Venusaur. Miltank was now poisoned, and damage was taken from the Blizzard. Venusaur, being part poison, wasn't affected, which is probably lucky for May. Whitney immediately used Heal Bell to remove the status condition from Miltank.

"Salamence, use Brick Break!" Salamence made eye contact with his owner, and Ash smirked, and gave a single nod. Salamence flew towards Venusaur, which prepared a Protect move. However, just as Miltank was about to intercept with Ice Beam, Togekiss countered with Flamethrower, and as they clashed, Salamence changed direction towards Miltank, revealing that he was actually targeting Miltank, and not Venusaur.

Miltank was hit, which caused her to stop firing the Ice Beam, and Togekiss took the opportunity to change the direction of the Flamethrower towards Venusaur. Both super effective moves took out the two Pokémon in an instant.

"Miltank and Venusaur are unable to battle! Coordinator May, please send out your last Pokémon!"

* * *

A man, chained up against the wall, screamed as the girl in front of him sliced at his left hand, severing it. He couldn't see her face since it was hidden by the shadows. A Skitty was by his feet, charging a Thunderbolt, ready to shock at her trainer's command.

"I repeat." Pakura said coldly, not even fazed by the warm blood that splattered her face. "Who sent you here?"

"I-It was the former five leaders of various organizations around the regions!" The man was still howling in pain from Pakura severing his left hand which resulted in a bleeding stump.

"Right. Why didn't you wait until he's alone before you do this?" She asked sarcastically.

"Well, it's because he'd be busy with his match, and we won't expect him to react fast enough." The man grumbled. "But…" he trailed off.

"But what?" Pakura asked, still maintaining her icy exterior.

"W-well..." He yelped as the girl's knife sliced at his arm, causing a deep wound. She nodded at Skitty, who unleashed her Thunderbolt right at the wound, causing the man to scream in agony.

"Stop stuttering." She ordered in an unemotional voice. "But what?"

"But those under Giovanni had one more order, besides trying to take out the Champion."

"What hidden order?" Pakura raised her eyebrow.

"Giovanni said he had developed an aura-infused weapon that could combat aura users, but the weapon was taken away by a boy 10 years ago. He suspected that the weapon is now in PAL, and that the Champion has it. He wanted the weapon back!" The man panicked as he saw the girl lift her knife, but she was simply adjusting her hold on it. Blood dripped from the knife like a leak on the pipe.

Skitty frowned at this.

Deep inside, for the first time since Ash became Champion, Pakura was frightened.

"What else did he tell you?" Pakura asked evenly.

"Er….he said if they find the boy who took the weapon away, they should kill him. And one trait about this weapon is that it had the "R" symbol branded on it."

He looked in fear at the blood on the knife, which had dried by now.

"Is that all?"

When the man nodded, the last thing he saw was the knife making a move to slit his throat.

Pakura cleaned the blood with a cloth, heart pumping a million times per minute. She took out one of Phillip's bombs, paced it near the man's body, and put a barrier around his corpse. She watched emotionlessly as the body exploded into smithereens, before leaving the old outhouse. She had found this outhouse years ago when she was going for a walk in the forest, and since it's isolated, it's a good place to interrogate (read torture) someone without being seen or heard.

If Giovanni wanted the weapon back, it's likely that this weapon was the only successful experiment he had, without any drawbacks. She knew very well what weapon Giovanni was talking about.

She shook her head. There's no way Giovanni can find the weapon if he thought the brand was still on the weapon, since she knew for one that the brand had vanished seven years ago.

The question is, should she tell Ash, and risk exposing her secret?

"**Are you alright, Pakura?" **Skitty asked, concerned.

"I'm fine." Pakura replied.

Skitty watched her trainer sadly. Thanks to talking to Sylveon, she knew the full story about Pakura's past. Skitty knew that Pakura would never tell anyone her past if she could help it, because she never needed anyone's worthless words and expressions of pity. She'd do anything to keep her past a secret. Anything.

"**Come on, let's go pick up Sylveon and Eevee." **Skitty suggested, as they reached the edge of the forest. **"You might want to change your clothes on the way." **

Pakura nodded, and they headed to the Battle Tower. On the way, she sent a message to the other three members.

* * *

"Cynthia, since May is the only one left on the field, I want to take her one on one. Is that ok?" Ash asked.

"Sure, why not." Cynthia shrugged. "I think you deserve a one-on-one with her anyway, after all she did."

"Thanks, Cynthia." Ash smiled as she returned her Togekiss, but did not send out another Pokémon.

"Beautifly, spotlight!" May sent out her last Pokémon.

Ash returned his Salamence and thanked him for his good work. He took out a Pokéball, and looked at May with a gleam in his eye.

"Manaphy, lend me your aura!" He threw his Pokéball and out came the Seafaring Pokémon.

"And it looks like Champion Red is in possession of another Legendary, not just Ho-oh!" Ken commented.

"How did you capture Manaphy?" May's jaw dropped.

"With a Pokéball, what else?" Ash raised his eyebrow, which earned laughter from the audience at the joke.

"You must've poached it from the Samiya, haven't you?" May accused.

She then turned to Manaphy, and her features softened. "Manaphy! It's Mama, remember?" May held out her arms to Manaphy, expecting him to jump into May's arms, but instead, she was hit by a Scald attack, which grazed her arm since Whitney pulled her out of the way. She was hurt, not by the burn in her arm, but by the fact that Manaphy would attack without hesitation.

"Please Manaphy. It's me, May, I'm your mama!" May pleaded. Manaphy ignored her.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Manaphy, let's start things off by using Ice Beam!"

"Beautifly, Protect!" May said desperately, praying that Manaphy would come to his sense soon. The Protect managed to prevent Ice Beam from hitting Beautifly.

"Now, use Whirlpool!"

Manaphy raised his arms and a large whirlpool appears above his head. He then threw it at Beautifly, and Ash told Manaphy to fire a Shadow Ball and Energy Ball inside the Whirlpool. The Whirlpool glowed alternately between purple and light green, and headed towards Beautifly. May half-heartedly told Beautifly to use Gust to counter it, but it wasn't enough, so the Shadow Ball and Energy ball infused Whirlpool crashed onto Beautifly, causing it to fall to the ground.

"Pakura actually used this combination back at one of the Grand Festivals. Not only does it make it look beautiful, it actually can make it powerful too." Ash remarked to Cynthia. Cynthia nodded, as she watched Beautifly struggle to get up. When it did, May commanded it to use Stun Spore, which successfully paralyzed Manaphy. However, Ash told Manaphy to use Rain Dance. Due to his Ability called Hydration, it cured Manaphy of paralysis.

"But how?" May sounded more distressed than worried.

"Simple. Manaphy has the Ability called Hydration. Hydration heals status problems of the user if it is raining." Ash explained. "Now, Manaphy, use Bubble Beam!"

May couldn't bear to call out any more attacks that would hurt Manaphy, and asked Beautifly to just dodge. That gave Ash the opening to use Ice Beam towards the direction where Beautifly flew towards, and it became frozen in a block of ice. Through the ice, it's clear that Beautifly is unable to battle.

"Beautifly is unable to battle! The winners are Champions Cynthia and Red. They would be moving on to the Top 128!" The audience cheered at their victory. Whitney solemnly closed her eyes in defeat.

"Whitney, you were a great opponent. You had a great strategy that caught both of us off guard." Ash called out to her.

Whitney looked at Red, surprised, before giving a smile and nodding, knowing she did her best. She left for the VIP Box without another word.

"**We made it, like I expected." **Lucario nodded, folding his arms in an "I knew it" way.

"**Gee, modest much?" **Pikachu asked sarcastically.

Ash laughed, and watched as May returned her Beautifly, and walked towards Manaphy, about to take him away. Manaphy, however, quickly ran towards Ash, and hopped into his arms.

"Give him back to me, you bastard! How dare you steal Manaphy?" May demanded.

Manaphy, though an able battler, is still a little on the sensitive side, started crying at May's loud voice. Ash started rocking Manaphy to calm it down, and trying to comfort it.

"I'll never give him to you." Ash replied, clutching to Manaphy, who had stopped crying and is glaring at May.

May growled and was about to slap Ash, but Cynthia was faster, and had May's wrist in a tight grip.

"How dare you try and hit a Champion?" Cynthia hissed. She gripped the wrist tight enough to hurt, but not enough to leave a bruise. May winced at the grip

"He's keeping Manaphy away from his rightful mama!" May protested, wrenching her hand from Cynthia's grip, which led her to stumble backwards. "And you must have poached it! There's no way Manaphy would go to anyone other than his mama! Right, Manaphy?"

"Well, then, we shall see." Ash replied. He put Manaphy down. "Manaphy, go to your mama."

May opened her arms, expecting Manaphy to go to her, but was heartbroken when Manaphy leapt straight into Cynthia's arms. Her eyes started to fill with tears.

"Mama!" Manaphy nuzzled his head against Cynthia's chest.

Ash smirked. "Well, guess this is Manaphy's answer." With that, they left for the VIP Box. May's tears made its appearance, and she flung a hand over her face, and hurried away, in the direction of the ladies' room. The female traitors, who had been watching the scene but was unable to enter the battlefield, due to the battlers still being there, rushed after May.

* * *

May looked at her face in the mirror. Her face had gotten all splotchy, and her eyes were now squinty and red-looking from the crying she did due to Manaphy hating her now.

'Is this the face of a princess?' May thought, extremely saddened. She looked down on the sink, crying, and ignored the noise of a stall door closing, indicating fact that someone had entered the ladies room, and entered a stall.

"Hey May." A familiar voice said. May looked into the mirror to see Misty, Dawn and Iris smiling at her.

"I-I don't know what I'm doing wrong." May hiccupped. "I just wanted Manaphy back!"

"You did nothing wrong." Iris assured her. "It's that Red Satoshi who probably poisoned Manaphy's mind against you."

"Yeah, he most likely poached that Manaphy so that you would be distressed and lose that battle, thus eliminating you from the tournament." Misty snarled. "We should do something about this!"

"How?" Dawn asked.

"Simple. We take one of their Pokemon when their guard is down." Iris said.

"Which is at the Battle Tower." Dawn pointed out. "There's no way we can get in unless invited by a Gym Leader or an Elite Four."

"You're forgetting something." Misty smiled. She may have opted out, but she's still a Gym Leader.

The girls smirked, and they planned to take one Pokémon when everyone is asleep, say 2am or so. They just have to get some caffeine to help them stay awake for the plan to happen. Then, once they are taken, if the Elites want them back, they would have to give up Manaphy in exchange for the safe return of their Pokémon.

To be safe, they would get one unsuspecting trainer to distract the Elites long enough for them to sneak into the rooms if some of them are awake by that time. It's better than to get the boys because they've seen the boys drool over the female Elites, especially Pakura, and would probably not want to do something that would ruin her.

"When do you want to take action?" Misty asked.

"Tonight. I can't imagine my sweet Manaphy in that bastards' ownership any longer." May replied. "We need to rescue him as soon as possible!"

The girls nodded.

"Why don't we watch the other matches for now?" Iris suggested. They made sounds of agreement, before finally leaving the ladies room, May excited for tonight's Rescue Manaphy mission.

A toilet flushed, and the stall door opened to reveal Pakura.

"**Can they be any stupider?" **Eevee came out of the stall Pakura was in. Since it's still wild, Pakura couldn't return her to a Pokéball, and had no choice but to take Eevee with her to the stall, as the Eevee liked to keep her within sight.

Pakura's Pokéballs opened to reveal Skitty and Sylveon.

"**I'll have to agree with Eevee on this one." **said Sylveon.

Pakura simply rolled her eyes at those girls' stupidity to try and use their Pokémon to rescue Manaphy. She walked over to the sinks and waited for the automatic tap to turn on. When it did, she rinsed her hands, dried, tossed the paper towel, and left the room, along with her Pokémon.

All in complete and utter silence.

* * *

"You really gave them quite a show out there, Ash." Cynthia made her opinion known. They were walking back to the VIP Box together.

"**And May was totally humiliated out there." **Pikachu laughed.

"**Manaphy sure is a decent battler." **Lucario hummed thoughtfully.

Ash gave a wry smile, as they reached the VIP Box entrance, and was about to reach for the door knob when the door opened. Ash raised his eyebrows as he spotted Lance coming out of the VIP Box, apparently needing the bathroom. They locked eyes for a moment, and Lance opened his mouth, about to say something, but Ash simply turned away, and entered the VIP Box with Cynthia and his Pokémon, closing the door behind him. The door had just closed when he and Cynthia were engulfed by some of the Elite members of the other regions, who were nearly unintelligible as they babble out praises.

Among the praises, Ash heard Flint ask, "Hey Jude, where did you and your Elite go? You guys were missing for most of Champion Red's match!"

Ash narrowed his eyes, and turned to his Elites. Sure enough, three of them had guilty looks in their eyes, and the fourth isn't even there.

Just then, Ken announced for the next match participants to get on the battlefield, and Rosaline left the VIP Box with her Espeon, along with Grimsley and Koga.

"Outside, now." Ash said authoritatively to Jude and Phillip. The other two shuddered at his tone, and followed him out of the VIP Box. The others also went back to their seats, giving them a pathway to the door.

Once outside the Battle Arena, Ash turned to them, with a calculating look in his eyes.

"Ok, what's going on here?"

Jude and Phillip looked at each other, and before they could say anything, Ash said, "And don't leave anything out. I asked Paku to tell me how to look for signs when a person is lying, and I am confident of my ability, even without the help of my power."

Phillip and Jude inwardly groaned. They knew Pakura is extremely knowledgeable in non-verbal communication, as she can often tell when one person is lying, and is much better than Rosaline in telling if one is lying, and she isn't even a Psychic expert.

"**That's right, so you better tell them everything, or else…" **Pikachu's cheeks emitted sparks of electricity. While Phillip knew electricity attacks doesn't work on him due to his powers (in fact, hitting him with electricity actually energizes him), he's frightened by the look on Ash's and Pikachu's faces, the look that they usually wore when Ash was about to throw them into the dungeon (located at basement) back at the Plateau as punishment for various reasons (Everyone had gotten locked into the dungeon for various reasons by either Ash or Pakura at some point. The only one that never got locked in the dungeon so far was Pakura.)

Just then, Jude's and Phillip's CommuniDex rang, and Ash glared at them to open the message.

_According to the men that tried to kill Ash those under Giovanni are looking for a weapon they suspect you possess. It's a weapon apparently designed to combat aura users. A boy stole it 10 years ago, and they believe that the weapon is located somewhere in our region. The appearance of the weapon was unknown, though it had the R symbol somewhere on the weapon –Pakura._

"Well?" Ash folded his arms, when he read the message he made Jude show him.

Phillip inwardly shook his head. If only Flint didn't open his big mouth….

Jude sighed, and began telling Ash everything, starting from the part where Pakura saw the assassins' reflections via the bubbles produced from a trainer's Pokémon's Bubble Beam. Since she didn't want him to worry about it during his battle she sent a message to all except for him, and they planned to use aura to detect killing intent and take them out from there, and be discreet since they did not want to alert the audience. If they did, Rosaline can erase their memories. Pakura had taken one for interrogation while they had disposed of the corpses.

Ash sighed, and said, "Alright, I understand. But next time, whatever's going on, you better tell me!"

Jude and Phillip nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly.

"And we are going to find and destroy the weapon. Would you please send Rosaline and Paku a message?"

"Alright." Phillip replied, as he activated his CommuniDex, and typed a message, before sending it to the girls.

Ash nodded, satisfied, and left for the VIP Box.

Jude and Phillip looked at each other, uneasy, as they followed Ash. As much as they do want to tell Ash everything, they do not want him to know about the dark history of PAL, about their previous manager. Sure, he knew that they do have a manager before Phlox called Benzene Von Karma, but he does not know the things Benzene had done to the four of them, and the duo rather Ash not know about it.

It's sort of ironic the day that Ash became Champion, Pakura returned from his office with a resignation letter that also confessed the crimes he had done.

Jude and Phillip wondered what made him resign, considering he liked to stay over almost every day and give stupid comments over everything, and even attempted to sleepover in Pakura's or Rosaline's rooms (though Pakura got it more often than Rosaline did), only for them to throw him out either physically or using telekinesis, forcing him to use the guest rooms.

The next day after his resignation, at the _Pokémon Post _(name of another newspaper in PAL), there was an entire obituary page dedicated to his family. They had a side note as well that the last remaining living member, which is Benzene their former manager, was unable to be reached when they attempted to contact him about the deaths of his family. Not that the PAL Elite members cared since they agreed life was better off without him as manager, but they agreed between themselves not to say anything about this to Ash, since it wasn't a problem for them anymore, and Ash was better off not knowing about PAL's dark history.

They returned back to the VIP Box, in time to see that Rosaline is commanding Medicham to use Hi Jump Kick on Rapidash, and Grimsley telling Liepard to use Attract on Muk. Rapidash was apparently nearing fainting mode, as when the Hi-Jump Kick hit Rapidash, it was knocked out.

"Rapidash was unable to battle!" Evan declared.

Ash gave a small smirk. Jon may be good enough to win the Silver Conference, but he doesn't have the skill to take on two Elites by the looks of it. Ash wondered if he would win the Conferences he participated in the past with his current skills.

The Attract had hit Muk, and since Muk is male, and Liepard is female, the Attract had worked, and now Muk is in a love-struck state. Ash watched as Koga tried to command a Sludge Bomb, but Muk was too busy fawning over Liepard to hear his command. Grimsley took the opportunity to Dark Pulse, and Rosaline also helped with Medicham's Psychic, which knocked Muk out.

"Muk is unable to battle! Green Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon."

* * *

Lance was on his way to the bathroom when he spotted Pakura exiting the ladies' room with her Sylveon and Skitty. She was also carrying an Eevee, which Lance assumed she had caught recently. Looking around, he realized that they were alone, save for the receptionist at the lobby counter, but she's busy reading old copies of a magazine called PokéSTYLE, and listening to some music on her headphones.

Her CommuniDex rang, indicating a message, and when she read it, she paled considerably, and turned off her CommuniDex.

He knew this was the best opportunity to ask her, and decided to call out to her.

"Hey, Pakura!"

Pakura stopped in her tracks, and turned to see who had called her. Her pink lips curled in disdain when she realized who exactly called her.

"What do you want?" While her voice was calm, there was a hint of venom in it.

Lance gulped. She was probably still angry over the Aerial Ace incident. "I know his real name." He kept it vague for fear if he said what he really meant, someone might walk in and hear it, thus breaking his promise to Ash. He can only hope that Pakura had gotten the message.

Pakura nodded. "I know. He told me." She was about to turn and walk back to the Arena, when he said, "I want to know his story."

She stopped mid-step, and turned back to face him. She had a calculating look in her eyes. She turned to her Pokémon, and they both nodded to her.

She signalled to him to follow her, and they both left the lobby. Lance realized she was taking him to the Plaza Hotel; why would she take him there?

They entered the Hotel though the revolving doors, and the concierge greeted Pakura cheerfully as if they were old friends. Pakura nodded curtly, and led him to an elevator. Lance noted that the elevator was fancy, but it was nothing compared to the Battle Tower's elevator. It had red carpeting, and had mirrors on two sides of the walls, and a glass wall at the third to see through. Pakura pressed the "17" Button, and the door closed before they started to ascend. The doors opened to reveal a well-lit hallway with several doors, with more red carpeting covering the floor.

Pakura reached a door, took out a key from her pocket, inserted it into the keyhole and opened the door. She gestured for Lance to get in.

Lance realised this was a penthouse suite, and the penthouse was very luxurious.

First of all, everything was pink. Pink walls, pink carpet, pink curtains, pink furniture. There were pink roses everywhere, and portraits hanging on the walls that featured famous models wearing elegant gowns. There were lots of gold leaf all over everything, and freshly cut flowers all over the place. Lance thought this penthouse was specifically for females.

"In the Battle Tower, there are usually time spans where the hidden security cameras are on outside our rooms. They turn it on during the entire time of the tournament matches, where no one would be in the Battle Tower, and turn it off when the matches are over. They also turn it on at night, when everyone is assumed to be asleep. Since the cameras are on now, I doubt it's the best place to talk at the moment." Pakura explained.

"Why can't we just talk in your room, if there are no security cameras in your room?" Lance enquired.

"I don't like people being in my room, and I don't like to go into others' rooms if I can help it. Anyway, at this place, while they are security cameras, the previous owner of this penthouse destroyed the hidden camera so that she can….teach better." By the way Pakura said the last two words, Lance knew that the previous owner probably gave a hard time to her student.

"And how did you get ownership of this penthouse?" Lance asked, plopping onto one of the soft, pink chairs.

"Let's just say the owner wanted me to have it when she croaked." Pakura said, scratching Eevee behind her ears, and listening to her yip in happiness.

'Pakura's hiding something.' Lance thought, but he did not say anything.

"Don't get me wrong. I don't like pink, but I thought I'd keep it in case I need to use it for emergencies. Anyway, before I tell you the story, you better go to the bathroom."

That shocked Lance. "H-How did you know?"

"I can recognize the 'I-want-to-pee-my-pants' look. I've seen it on the boys' faces many times when they are in the middle of something but needed the toilet badly." Pakura replied dismissively, pointing to the direction of the toilet. Sylveon, Skitty, and Eevee snickered at Lance, as he got up to use the bathroom.

A few minutes later, the toilet flushed, and he came out.

"Alright, I'll tell you the story of what happened to Ash."

Lance stayed silent, and waited for Pakura to start her story.

* * *

The next Pokémon Jon and Koga sent out was Rhyperior, which Ash guessed it was the same Rhydon from the Silver Conference years ago, and Crobat respectively. While Grimsley chose to stick with Liepard, Rosaline returned her Medicham, and sent out her Blaziken instead.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Rhyperior, let' start things off with Stone Edge!" Rhyperior summoned several pointed stones that float in the air, and then fired them at Liepard and Blaziken.

"Crobat, use Air Slash!" Koga's Crobat's wings glowed white and it flapped them, releasing multiple white glowing saw disc-like energy blades from its wings, and sent it to its opponents.

"Blaziken, use Flame Charge to dodge, and hit Rhyperior!" Blaziken repeatedly stomped on the ground until a cloud of dust covered his body. Then, he emerged from the cloud while surrounded by an orb of red-yellow flames, effectively dodging the Stone Edge, and hitting Rhyperior at the same time. However, Rhyperior was able to get up immediately, as due to its type, fire types do not work very well against it.

"Liepard, use Shadow Ball to block the Air Slash!" The Shadow Ball collided with the Air Slash, and exploded on contact.

"Keep using Flame Charge!" Rosaline commanded her Blaziken.

* * *

"Wait, Fire types don't work on Rhyperior very well. So why does she keep using it on her opponent's Pokémon?" Jude asked, as he watched Blaziken hit Rhyperior with repeated Flame Charges.

"Well, Flame Charge inflicts damage, yes. However, each time a Pokémon uses the attack, its speed increases as well. Rosaline isn't looking to do damage; she's looking to increase the Speed of her Pokémon." Ash explained. "It's a common enough tactic, Jude."

"Her strategy is rather easy to read." Phillip commented absent-mindedly, and watched as Grimsley commanded Liepard to use Assist, which turned out to be Thunder Wave, which paralyzed Crobat. Crobat, who was in the midst of using a Wing Attack, was suddenly unable to execute the move, due to the wings being paralyzed.

Koga then decided to use Confuse Ray, which hit Liepard, causing her to become confused. When Grimsley was shouting at Liepard to snap out of its confusion, and use Hone Claws. However, due to the confusion, she hurt herself in the process.

Jon countered Flame Charge with Earthquake, which slowed Blaziken long enough to execute a Drill Run attack on Blaziken. It was super effective, and Blaziken stumbled, holding the part where he got hit with the Drill Run. Rosaline panicked and called for Double Kick, which Rhyperior dodged by jumping. She then ordered a High Jump Kick, which hit Rhyperior and sent it to the ground. While it is down, she told Blaziken to use Sky Uppercut on Liepard, which snapped it out of its confusion, just as Crobat fired an Air Cutter that was aimed for Liepard, but hit Blaziken instead. Blaziken hit the wall, and slid to the ground, clearly tired, and nearing fainting state.

Rosaline decided to withdraw Blaziken, and left the fighting to Grimsley. While Crobat and Rhyperior were ordered to use Rock Blast and Cross Poison, Grimsley told Liepard to use her speed, and she ran all over the arena in a blur, causing the two Pokémon to watch her run, before she appeared behind Crobat, where Rhyperior used its Rock Blast, but next second, Liepard is gone again, and the Rock Blast hit Crobat instead. It also happened when Crobat saw Liepard in front of Rhyperior and used its Cross Poison but she dodged again, and the Cross Poison hit Rhyperior.

Grimsley decided to finish it off with Assist, which turned out to be Ice Beam, and both Pokémon were frozen. From the ice, the swirls for their eyes could be seen.

"Both Rhyperior and Crobat are unable to battle! Green Trainers, please send out your final Pokémon!"

Koga and Jon sent out Venomoth and Meganium respectively, while Rosaline sent out her Flareon, and Grimsley switched to his Krookodile.

* * *

"It looks like you got it spot on, Cilan." Misty said, as she, Iris and Dawn tried to restrain a hysterical May, who wanted nothing more than to charge back to the battlefield to yell at Rosaline for getting her Blaziken.

"I don't know. Blaziken's taste seem slightly different from May's one. Maybe it didn't belong to May in the first place?" Cilan frowned.

"I'm sure that's my Blaziken! That bitch Rosaline! I'll get her if that's the last thing I ever do!" May clenched her fists.

"May, calm down!" Max said. "We're drawing attention to ourselves." Sure enough, some of the spectators were glaring at them, signalling them to be quiet.

"Rosaline's amazing!" A girl sitting in front of them cried. "Do you think she'll sign my manga that was written by her, mummy?"

"We'll see, Rhonda." Her mum replied. "Perhaps we can also meet Princess Pakura. After all, they are good friends."

"If the times I saw Pakura shoot her annoyed looks is any indication, I think her relationship with Rosaline is actually worse than it looks." Cilan said observantly.

"I think we should investigate them. I bet they are hiding something big." Trip added.

"We'll do it during lunch or something. For now, just enjoy the match." Brock finally cut off the conversation.

* * *

"Why hasn't Paku returned?" Ash asked Jude and Phillip. "Now that she had the info already?"

"I don't know…" Jude looked unsure.

"Now I think of it, Lance is taking an unusually long time in the bathroom." Phillip looked at the Kanto/Johto Elite, and sure enough Lance wasn't among them.

Ash narrowed his eyes at the implications. Lance must've asked Pakura what he thought he was better off not knowing, and why Gary told him it's better off not asking those traitors. By the looks of it, Pakura may have told him already. He stood up, and left the VIP Box to find Pakura, along with Pikachu and Lucario. Cynthia got up to follow him.

"Aren't you going to watch the match?" Ash asked in surprise.

Cynthia shook her head. "Somebody has to keep you safe." She joked.

"**So, do you know where to find her?" **Pikachu raised his eyebrows.

"Of course." He activated his CommuniDex, and what looked like a map appeared. He swiped the map with a finger, thus showing him other parts of a map. Cynthia realized that this was the map of the entire PAL region. Later, she saw four dots clearly clustered together; a fifth was some distance away.

"These dots represent the holders of the CommuniDex." Ash explained. "With this, I can locate all my Elites, and what's more…" He zoomed in to the fifth dot, and what looked like the model of a building appeared. The dot was located at the 17th floor of the building.

"**Isn't this the Plaza Hotel?" **Lucario recognized the structure and design of the building.

"That's right. I suspect Lance must've asked Paku to tell my story to him." With that, the left for the Plaza Hotel.

They had reached the outside of the Plaza Hotel just as Pakura exited; sure enough, Lance was with her.

"You know Lance, it'll have been nice of you to just keep your mouth shut about my identity and not go after others for answers why I did it you know." Ash folded his arms. "Weren't you were the one that told me to stay out of the way during that Red Gyarados thing?"

"Er…I…" Lance was at a loss for words.

"Lance, you knew?" Cynthia was surprised.

"Yeah, I found out last night." Lance muttered.

"And you even went to my Leader for answers. I thought you disliked Paku for the name she called you the other day? What was it again? Useless deadweight?" Ash continued smoothly. Pakura watched the scene impassively with her Sylveon and Skitty. The wild Eevee was looking from Lance to Ash in her arms, curious as to what would happen next.

"**Now that was unexpected. Lance asking Pakura, of all people." **Pikachu mumbled.

Lucario nodded in agreement. **"Yeah, it's common knowledge by now that he hates her." **

Cynthia gave Lance a look of disbelief. Did Lance actually deign to ask the person he disliked just to find out what happened?

Lance had the sense to stay silent.

"Well, at least now you know why you shouldn't ask them for answers." Ash concluded. "I trust you won't tell. Breaking promises isn't good for your image as the Kanto Leader and Johto Champion, right, Lance?"

"Y-Yeah." Lance stuttered out. Ash's tone is so smooth it's actually scaring him. He felt pity for the once happy-go-lucky boy whose friends and mother turned against him, causing his personality to take a serious and calculating turn.

"If you know too much, I can't really guarantee you'll leave this region alive. Get what I mean?" Ash raised his eyebrow.

Lance nodded frantically.

Ash sighed, changing back to his usual tone. "Well, now that is settled, let's go back." With that, the four of them made their way back to the Arena.

"You care about him too, don't you?" Cynthia whispered to Lance. "So much you actually asked the person you detest for some answers."

Lance nodded. "Yes. He did make an impression among those who have met him. The love for all Pokémon, the willingness to protect them, his compassion just draws everyone to him. He's also someone with huge potential, when one looks at him, they would immediately know he'll go far, and rise to the top someday."

"And when this person suddenly vanishes, naturally you'll wonder." Cynthia nodded to Ash, who was walking in front of them.

"Yeah. But I didn't expect this change." He felt saddened and angered by the story Pakura had told him. And he was glad he asked Pakura, because she knew some things that even the other PAL Elite members didn't know. He also understood that Ash was still probably mourning his mother's death, although he hid it behind his strong façade.

They returned in time to see that Meganium and Venomoth have fainted from Flareon's Flare Blitz, and the referee declared Rosaline and Grimsley as the winners.

Ash whispered something to Pakura, before returning to the VIP Box with Cynthia, while Pakura and Lance headed to the battlefield, waiting for their turn to enter.

Rosaline returned her Flareon, and thanked him for a job well done. She opened the message given by Pakura and Jude. It looked like they had a lot to do, she thought, as she prepared to return to the VIP Box.

"Er…Rosaline?" Grimsley stopped her. Rosaline turned around.

"What is it?" Rosaline asked him.

"Do you think we could have dinner tonight together?" Grimsley asked hopefully.

Rosaline glared at him. Is this guy asking her out on a date? She was about to open her mouth to tell him not to be ridiculous, when she saw Grimsley's begging expression that looked like he was a kicked Growlithe.

'Darn, I'm not Pakura who can withstand these types of assault.' Rosaline thought, her heart softening at the expression. In fact she can't bear to see anyone sad, and the other Elite members had said that's one of her weak points. Once, Pakura had made a fan boy cry because she refused to go on a date with him, and Rosaline (not knowing any better, since she was just named an Elite member for three days) actually tried to get her to change her mind and say yes, earning herself a trip to the dungeon for a week.

"Alright, fine."

Grimsley had this "Yes, I did it!" look on his face, and said, "I'll pick you up at 7." With that, he walked away.

'What have I gotten myself into?' Rosaline thought, as she walked back to the VIP Box as well.

* * *

"And now, for the third match of the tag battles, from the Green side, we have Trainer Bianca, and previous winner of the Vertress Conference, Virgil!" Ken announced. The said pair walked out to the applause of the audience.

"And from the Red side, we have Champion and Elite Lance, and Elite Pakura, our Princess of PAL!"

The two of them walked onto the battlefield, and the audience cheered even louder, some men even catcalling at Pakura. Pakura rolled her eyes at their lack of subtlety.

"Why are the others catcalling?" Bianca wondered. But her answer was given when her opponents walked out onto the battlefield. The girl who was to be their opponent was breathtakingly beautiful, and had something about her that draws all eyes on her. Even her partner, Virgil, blushed slightly upon seeing her for the first time.

"**She's really pretty, isn't she?" **His Eevee laughed.

"Yeah…" Virgil replied absent-mindedly. Although he didn't understand Pokéspeech, he roughly could guess what his Eevee was trying to say.

"Wow, what's that Pokémon?" Bianca pointed her PokéDex at Sylveon. "It's so cute!"

"No data." Her PokéDex said.

"What?" Bianca frowned at her PokéDex. "Is this thing broken?"

"Bianca, since your PokéDex isn't the national one, I doubt you can scan it since it's still Unova-based, and this Pokémon isn't from Unova." Virgil explained.

"Oh…" Bianca stuck out her tongue. "Can you scan it for me?"

Virgil and his Eevee looked at each other, then he shrugged. "Sure."

He scanned Sylveon with his National PokéDex, which was a reward for winning the Vertress Conference all those years ago.

"Sylveon, the Intertwining Pokémon and an evolved form of Eevee. It sends a soothing aura from its ribbonlike feelers to calm fights. Sylveon affectionately wraps its ribbon-like feelers around its trainer's arms as they walk together." Virgil's PokéDex read out. Virgil's eyes widened in surprise when he heard that it's another evolution of Eevee.

"How's it possible I don't have that evolution?" Virgil wondered.

"It's only native to this region." Lance explained.

"**She's so cute. I want to evolve into her." **Virgil's Eevee was pointing to Sylveon.

"So, you want to evolve into Sylveon?" Virgil smiled. His Eevee eagerly nodded. "Why don't we ask her how she evolved her Eevee into Sylveon after the battle?" His Eevee nodded again.

Just then, Bianca spotted something in Pakura's arms.

"Eevee? Is that you? Did you come back for me?" The girl asked excitedly.

Eevee cringed, as she recognized the same girl who grabbed her and just declared that she'll be her Pokémon just the other day, only Eevee fired a Shadow Ball at her face.

"**No, Paku, don't make me go to her!" **Eevee whined. Pakura twitched. It also ticked her off somewhat when people call her Paku as if they knew her well. The only one that can call her that was Ash and her Pokémon, and Eevee certainly isn't her Pokémon. But then again, this Eevee was a very young one, most likely hatched from an egg not long ago, and she seemed to be scared of this girl.

"Erm….it's time to send out your Pokémon." Said Evan, but Pakura held up a hand, signalling to give them five minutes to talk.

"Have you caught it yet?" Bianca asked Pakura.

Pakura shook her head.

Lance raised his eyebrows. So the Eevee was still wild.

"Alright! Then I can still catch it! Go, Pokéball!" She threw the Pokéball at Eevee, but Pakura caught it easily.

"Why can't you just let Eevee decide?" Virgil suggested.

Bianca nodded. "That sounds fair."

Pakura walked to the middle of the battlefield, and placed Eevee in the circle which marked the middle. She then walked back to the side of the battlefield next to Lance.

"Ok, Eevee, go to the person you like." Pakura said.

Without hesitation, Eevee ran full speed back to Pakura. Eevee jumped into Pakura's arms, and snuggled there. Bianca started wailing for Eevee to come back.

Meanwhile at the VIP Box, Ash had to laugh at how Bianca hadn't changed much over the last four years.

"**She's still the Bianca we knew." **Pikachu smiled.

"**Definitely. Did you see the look on Virgil's face when he realized there was still one more Eeveelution?" **Lucario sniggered. Ash gave them both a wry smile.

They watched Pakura nod to Evan, who told the four of them to start the battle.

"Alright, Trainers please send out your Pokémon!"

"Umbreon, deploy!" Virgil chose his Umbreon, which is also his first obtained Eevee.

"Alright, Minccino, go!" Bianca sent out her Minccino.

"Let's go, Aromatisse!" Pakura sent out the Fragrance Pokémon.

"Gyarados, battle time!" Lance sent out his Red Gyarados. Bianca and Virgil blinked at its strange colour, but Pakura didn't even bat an eyelash.

"What's this? It looks like Champion Lance has a Gyarados different in colour!" Ken announced. "Where did he get it from?"

The audience were whispering, probably speculating theories on how he got it. But the ones in the VIP Box are probably telling the story of the Red Gyarados to the ones who didn't know about it.

"Battle begin!"

"Aromatisse, start things off with Misty Terrain." Aromatisse released a thick light blue mist from its body, covering the surrounding area with it.

"Minccino, use Hyper Voice on Aromatisse." Both of Minccino's ears rolled up, and he took in a deep breath and shouted loudly. As he shouted, the inside of his mouth glowed white and a beam of wind with turquoise rings inside them come out from his mouth towards Aromatisse.

"Counter with Disarming Voice." Aromatisse let out a charming cry that came out in pink sound waves that are aligned with red hearts. The Disarming Voice managed to overpower Hyper Voice, and both attacks hit Minccino.

"Minccino, are you alright?" Bianca asked, worried. 'What kind of move is Disarming Voice? I never heard of it!' she thought.

"**I'm fine!" **Minccino got up, though he winced a little.

"Umbreon, use Toxic on Gyarados!"

Before Lance could react, the Toxic already hit Gyadaros, and sent it flying backwards. However, Gyarados shook it off, and didn't seem to be poisoned. Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

"What the?" Virgil was astonished that Toxic didn't poison Gyarados. "What's going on?"

"Misty Terrain creates terrain that protects Pokémon on the ground, but halves damage from Dragon Type moves in the process. As Gyarados was on the ground when you hit with Toxic, it wasn't affected." Pakura explained. "But, it also cuts the damage done by Dragon type moves in half."

'Thank goodness. I'll just have to abstain from using Dragon type moves until it fades away.' Lance thought. "Gyarados, use Ice Beam!"

"Minccino, use Hyper Voice again to counter Ice Beam!"

"Umbreon, Shadow Ball!"

"Aromatisse, use Moonblast."

The Hyper Voice managed to stop some of the Ice Beam from reaching Minccino, but residues of it still hit Minccino, which froze some parts of his fur. Minccino was shivering from the attack of Ice Beam.

* * *

"Is Aromatisse another Fairy type, Ash?" Cynthia asked.

Ash nodded. "Yeah. Aromatisse has an advantage over Umbreon, since Umbreon is a Dark type. I doubt Virgil or Bianca knew about the newly introduced Fairy-type. If this is so, they would most likely lose this match since they do not know Fairy's weaknesses."

"But even if they do know, it's pointless, they're up against the Champion and one of the most powerful Elite member. It's not a question on if they can win, it's how long they can last against them." Jude said.

"**Yeah, like what Jude said." **Espeon joined in the conversation. She turned to Rosaline, who was still regretting her decision. **"You know Rosaline, you said yes to Grimsley's invitation to dinner, so stop regretting your decision and get it over with tonight."**

"Wait, what?" Phillip was surprised by this news.

Ash shook his head. Rosaline was probably hit by the "a poor, kicked Growlithe" look. Due to her soft nature, she most likely faltered under that look, which caused her to say yes.

Jude was like, "Congrats, Rosaline. Grimsley's a cool guy, you know."

Ash stayed quiet. He's cool to people called Jude Harrison. He's cool to people who are fellow Dark types, like Jude Harrison. He's not so cool to those who are not Dark specialists (or part Dark, in Jude's case) like Ash Ketchum.

He's not so cool when he tried to get friendly with one of the PAL Elite members, the ones who were currently involved in some dangerous matters that meant their lives or deaths, and if they date, the ones who they are currently dating would have to get involved too. He's not so cool if he just met one of the PAL Elite members and only had two interactions with her, before asking her out.

And he's not so cool if he's sticking his tongue in her mouth like what Cynthia did to him the other day. Then again, he and Cynthia had known (and liked) each other before he disappeared for four years, so him dating Cynthia didn't even count as dating someone he just met.

Not that Ash had seen them do it, since they haven't been on their first date yet. And Ash doubted that Rosaline would let a guy stick his tongue in her mouth on their first date. At least, he hoped not.

Cynthia put out a hand and very gently touched Ash's arm.

"Something wrong, Ash?" Cynthia asked softly. "You've gone quiet."

"Hmm? No, it's nothing." Ash smiled. "Don't worry about me."

"I know you are worried since Grimsley might get involved in the mysteries through dating Rosaline, but I'm sure they'll be fine. I know I'm fine so far."

That earned a short laugh from Ash. "Yeah, you're right."

He turned to see Aromatisse using Attract on Umbreon, followed by a Draining Kiss, which lead to Umberon's energy being drained, causing him to faint. Same thing happened for Gyarados using Rock Smash on Minccino, fainting him easily.

* * *

"Minccino and Umbreon are unable to battle! Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"Minccino, no!" Bianca cried out in sorrow at her fainted Pokémon. She returned her Minccino, and sent out her Escavalier.

Virgil returned his Umbreon, and thanked him for the good job. 'Hmm…so this is the power of the Elites. I may have won a Conference, but I'm no match for them.' After careful consideration, he decided to send out his Vaporeon.

Pakura also returned her Aromatisse, and sent out her Vanilluxe. Lance, on the other hand, chose not to switch out.

"Battle begin!"

* * *

"Wait, doesn't Ice have a disadvantage against Water types?" Jude said. "Not that Ice is weak to Water, but I mean Vaporeon is resistant to Ice type attacks."

"Now I think of it, Ice types are also weak to Steel. What could she be thinking sending out an Ice type against those two?" Rosaline wondered.

Ash face palmed at the questions they ask. Didn't she defeat them despite her type disadvantage? If not, why would she be the Leader instead of the weakest member, since theoretically, Jude, Rosaline, and Phillip should have defeated her since Water is resistant to Ice, Ice is weak to Fire, Fairy is weak to Steel, and Fire is actually resistant to Fairy.

Before Ash could say anything, Cynthia beat him to it.

"You know guys, if type advantage is the most important factor in a battle, wouldn't you have defeated her a long time ago?"

That shut Jude and Rosaline up, as Ash, Phillip and their Pokémon sniggered at them.

* * *

"Gyarados! Use Thunder Wave!" Lance commanded. Gyarados released thin streams of electricity from its body, which hit Escavalier. Luck was on his side, as Escavalier is now emitting yellow sparks from its body, signalling paralysis.

Without wasting any second, he commanded Gyarados to use Flamethrower. Since Escavalier has double weakness to Fire, it struggled to get up when it was hit.

"Vaporeon, use Scald!"

"Ice Beam." Pakura countered calmly. Surprisingly, the Ice Beam actually froze the Scald.

"What's this? Vanilluxe managed to freeze the Scald! Normally, Scald would overpower Ice attacks, but it looks like Scald was no match for Vanilluxe's Ice Beam! This is the power of PAL's Elite Leader!" Ken expressed the audience's surprise, as the audience cheered for Pakura.

"Destroy the Ice using Flash Cannon, and then use Blizzard." Vanilluxe opened its mouth and a ball of silver energy appears in front of it. It then fired a silver beam from the ball to the Ice, destroying it, and then it used Blizzard. The Blizzard picked up the pieces of Ice, and shot towards Vaporeon, who turned his head away as the Ice Shards and Blizzard hit him.

"Vaporeon, jump!" Vaporeon jumped, and managed to avoid the rest of the attack.

"Now, Freeze Dry." Ice crystals appeared around Vaporeon, and quickly combined into one big ice crystal around Vaporeon. Vaporeon was clearly frozen. Swirls in its eyes also indicated that it was unable to battle.

Virgil frowned. Vaporeon is a Water type and this it's resistant to Ice. Why did Freeze Dry, an Ice type move, faint it instantly?

Pakura seemed to have sensed his confusion, because she said, "Freeze Dry is an Ice type move, yes, but it's super effective against Water type Pokémon. That's why your Vaporeon, as a Water type, would receive double damage from Freeze Dry."

Virgil smiled. He still had a lot to learn when it comes to Pokémon battling.

Meanwhile, Lance called out a Fire Blast to Escavalier, who just got up from the Flamethrower attack. Due to its low speed, it was unable to dodge in time, resulting in it getting hit, fainting it.

"Vaporeon and Escavalier are unable to battle! Green Trainers, please send out your last Pokémon!" Evan announced.

Bianca sent out her Emboar, while Virgil sent out his Flareon, which was an advantage against Pakura's Ice-type Pokémon. Pakura switched to Aurorus, and even Lance switched to Altaria.

"All trainers ready?" They all nodded. "Alright, battle begin!"

* * *

"Emboar, let's start things of with Arm Thrust!" Bianca said.

"Block it using Rock Tomb." Aurorus jumped into the air and landed on the ground. When he landed, giant rocks protrude from the ground and surrounded Emboar.

"Flareon, use Fire Spin!" He opened his mouth and a spiralling red-orange flame was released from the mouth towards their opponents.

"Altaria, counter with Dragon Breath!" Altaria fired a thick, green beam from his beak at the opponent. It clashed with the Fire Spin and surprisingly, both were at equal power. It soon exploded in the middle where the attacks met, and both Pokémon jumped back.

"Your Flareon's pretty good, considering it can match the power of the Dragon Breath." Lance complimented. "I can see why you won the Vertress Conference."

Virgil smiled. "Likewise for you. I can see why you are the Champion. Flareon, Double Team, followed by Fire Blast!"

Flareon made copies of himself, and surrounded Altaria.

"Altaria, Perish Song to disperse the copies!" Altaria flew into the air and started singing. As he did a trail of gold light appeared from his body, and rained down on the opponents in the form of sparkles.

"Flareon, get out of the way!" Flareon jumped aside as the gold sparkles hit his copies and they disappeared one by one.

"Aurorus, Ice Beam to block the Perish Song." Aurorus used Ice Beam to prevent the gold sparkles from hitting him.

"Emboar, lift the stones and use it to block the Perish Song!" Sure enough, the stones produced from Rock Tomb managed to block the gold sparkles.

"Now, use Fling!" Emboar threw the stones at Aurorus repeatedly.

"Aurorus, Charge Beam to destroy the stones." Aurorus' body became surrounded by yellow sparks and he fired a massive blast of electricity from his body towards the stones, destroying them. "Now, use Stone Edge on the Flareon behind you."

Virgil's eyes widened. How was she able to tell the real Flareon from the dwindling number of copies? Flareon was hit by the Stone Edge, sending him falling towards the ground.

"Emboar, catch him!" Flareon was caught by Emboar, who set him gently on the ground.

"Thanks, Bianca."

"No problem. Time to finish this. Emboar, use Fire Blast!"

"Flareon, use Helping Hand!" Heping hand increased the power of the Fire Blast.

"Altaria, Dragon Pulse!"

"Aurorus, use Hyper Beam."

They were equal in power, and when the attacks exploded into smoke, instead of standing there watching, Pakura called out a Stone Edge attack, which hit both their opponents' Pokémon, fainting them.

"No way! Her Pokémon can hit the attack accurately though smoke?" Bianca couldn't believe her eyes.

"We trained all our Pokémon to see through smoke in battle. That way, we wouldn't have to wait until the smoke clears to see our opponents to attack. That would be a waste of time." Pakura muttered.

"**That's right." **Sylveon said, nodding. Skitty purred in agreement.

"And the winners are Champion Lance and Elite Pakura!" Ken announced.

"If you had helped like that yesterday, I wouldn't have called you useless deadweight." Pakura remarked, which earned herself a glare from Lance.

Eevee jumped off Pakura's arms, and sat in front of her. Pakura raised an eyebrow.

"**Will you please catch me, Paku?" **Eevee requested sweetly.

Pakura opened her mouth about to say no, when Eevee made a cute face, and she widened her eyes.

'Shoot, this Eevee knows how to use Charm.'

"**Please?" **Eevee's Charm was on full force. Pakura reluctantly took out a Pokéball.

"Do you really want to come along, Eevee?"

Eevee ran to her, jumped, and pushed a paw on the capture button, and was immediately sucked into the Pokéball. It only shook once before it dinged, signalling a successful capture.

"Oh come on! You didn't even battle it!" Bianca was upset when Pakura captured the Eevee.

Pakura shrugged at her, before leaving the battlefield. She had some things she had to do today. Lance spared the upset Bianca a glance for a moment, before suddenly remembering the Dragon Princess' promise yesterday, and hurried to see her.

Virgil watched them leave, and said, "Well, I'll try to find her and ask her during lunch time, alright, Eevee?" His Eevee yipped in agreement, and they left the battlefield with Bianca.

* * *

"From the Green Side, we have Leader Marlon, and Leader Jasmine!" The two Gym Leaders walked out, waving to the audience.

"And from the Red Side, we have Leader Flannery, and our Genius Inventor, the brains of the Elite, Elite Four Phillip!" Phillip's hand was seemingly stuck on his side like yesterday when he tried to wave, so he just walked to the battlefield.

He made brief eye contact with Jasmine, who gave him a beatific smile. Phillip quickly looked away.

'She doesn't seem to be affected by me running away from her the last time. But why?' However, he didn't have time to think as Evan told them to send out their Pokémon. Phillip narrowed his eyes. 'I can't let what happened with her affect my performance today. As the third member of the PAL Elite, I won't lose to a Gym Leader.'

"**Go for it, Phillip!" **Emolga cheered.

With that thought, he took out a Pokéball, and sent out his Jolteon, while Jasmine sent out her Steelix, Marlon his Jellicent, and Flannery her Chandelure.

"Let the battle begin!"

* * *

"You see, the Prince disappeared five years ago. He left the cave, saying he needed to investigate a case assigned to him by the Hunter's Association. That was the last time I saw him." The Dragon Princess sipped her tea, and petted her Espeon.

Lance stayed quiet, as he registered the Princess' words.

"One day, his Dragonite just returned with all his Pokéballs containing all his Pokémon, when I asked Dragonite where he went, she just shook her head and said that the Dragon Prince vanished from their camp in the middle of the night and never came back. He left a message saying if he didn't return within six hours, they are to come back to me." The Princess frowned. "I tried looking for him, but it came out nothing."

"Oh…I'm sorry. It must be hard for you." Lance replied.

"It was. The spotlight is too bright without him, since we were so used to sharing it together, so I thought to hide in the dark for now. I even gave up the offer to be an Elite Four member…" The Princess trailed off.

"You were offered a spot as an Elite Four?" Lance was astonished.

"Oh yeah, both the Prince and I were offered spots, as at that time, they were still missing two members. Phillip Robinson and Jude Harrison were already Elite members by that time. Before he vanished, we decided that the Prince would keep the Dragon specialist, and take up Ice, and I'll keep the Psychic specialist, and take up Fairy. But since he disappeared, I decided not to go on with the plan without him, and gave my spot to that Pakura girl."

"You know Pakura?"

The Princess hesitated. "Not personally, but I've seen her on the newspapers and magazines many times. I saw a lot of talent in her, so I thought she should give this Elite thing a try. Next thing I know, they had appointed her the Leader. Ironically, her specialisation lied on Fairy and Ice, the two types the Prince and I were about to take for ourselves. A year later, Rosaline became the latest member." Lance noted she frowned as she said the last sentence.

Just then, her Espeon who had been glued to her leg nuzzled her again to pet his ears. The Princess happily obliged, and petted him, as he gave a contented sigh.

"You know, I have a childhood friend too. We've been playing with each other ever since we were just little kids. We would always go over to each other's houses often since we were neighbours. We separated to go on our journeys when we were ten. I wonder how he is doing right now." Lance decided to tell her something about himself, since it's only fair. "Both of us may be renowned as the prodigies of our Clan, but I never won a battle against him, you know."

Princess smiled. "Sounds interesting. Tell me more."

(Flashback)

"_Dratini is unable to battle. Gible wins. Which means, Shiki is the winner!" A woman with brown hair and blue eyes pointed at a seven year old boy with dark violet eyes that looked black in some lights. He also had slightly messy black hair. _

"_Dratini, return." A seven year old Lance returned his Dratini to his Pokéball. "Not again!" _

"_Hey, this is just practice. Don't take the loss too seriously." Shiki and Lance gave their Pokéballs to Shiki's mom to take it to the Pokémon Center, and sat down on the front lawn together. _

"_I know, but won't you think it sucks since I lose to you every time?" _

"_You just need to work on your reaction time. You were a little too slow in calling for Protect when I told Gible to use Dragon Pulse. You actually stood there and watched the move form before you called out the attack. You shouldn't get distracted, you know." Shiki laid back on the grass._

_Lance nodded, as he followed suit. "Yeah, you're right. Hey, Shiki?"_

"_Hmm?"_

"_Do you think that Cursed Child rumour is true?" Lance asked. _

"_That's Tauros crap. There's no one in this world who are cursed. It's just the Dragon Clan Elders spewing nonsense just because she was a child out of wedlock, and they don't allow it in the so-called pure Dragon Clan. If anything, it's they who are not pure. Blood relations aren't everything." _

"_Shh, someone might hear you." Lance sat up and looked around, but saw no one._

_Shiki sat up as well. "Hey, be honest Lance. You're not happy either."_

_Lance nodded. "Yeah, how I wish we can just grow up, take over the Clan, and change all these."_

"_Me too. By the way, yesterday night, I saw the child being taken away via a van. Apparently her parents didn't want her anymore, and gave her to someone else. But there's something else." _

"_What is it?" Lance asked, apprehension on his face. _

"_I saw the R symbol printed on the side of the van. I wonder what it meant. But whatever. When I go on my Pokémon journey, I'll go find the child, rescue her, and take care of her myself. I want to show her, prove to her that not everyone hates her. I just hope she'll wait for me." Shiki said with determination, as he lifted his hand towards the sun, and clenched his fist, as if he was grabbing the setting sun. _

"_That's a big goal to achieve, Shiki." Lance pointed out. "Besides, there's the goal everyone wants us to accomplish: To be a renowned Dragon user." _

"_Doesn't mean it's unachievable." Shiki shrugged. "Just three more years, Lance."_

_Lance smiled, as they watched the sun set together. "Yeah." _

(End flashback)

The Princess was silent for a long time. "Well you and this Shiki guy remind me of me and the Prince- I never won a match against the Prince either."

"Really?" Lance was surprised.

"Yeah, the Prince is stronger than me in terms of battling."

"But you were still good enough to be crowned the strongest female Dragon user." Lance encouraged.

"Yeah…thanks, I guess. So, you guys separated on a journey at 10, right, just like everyone else?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah, but before we parted ways, Shiki issued me a challenge to see who can become a better Dragon Master by the time we turn 21. After that day, I never saw him again. Not even when Blackthorn was destroyed five years ago, probably around the same time the Dragon Prince disappeared. He wasn't seen among the dead, neither did he appear when a Clan member started to call us to try and save our home. Something must have happened to him, but I don't know what."

"What happened?" Princess asked softly. "To Blackthorn, I mean."

"I don't know. I just got a call on my Pokégear from one of the Blackthorn residents, telling me to hurry up and return to Blackthorn. Before he could say anymore, there was a slicing sound, and a thud, and I was sure the person was killed. I rushed there as fast as I could with my Dragonite, and met Clair at the entrance. It was really cold when we entered Blackthorn City because of a mysterious blizzard."

"And then?" The Princess asked in a gentle tone.

"Most of the Dragon Clan members were wiped out. There were only 9 survivors from the Clan- My parents, Clair's parents, three children, Clair, and me. The thing is, whoever did it spared the children- killed just the adults. You know, the Elders. For some reason, they also spared my parents- when I found them, they were safe and unharmed, and I knew they found my parents since there were cut ropes, indicating that they were actually restrained, and they were ready to kill them. Clair's parents were hiding at the basement of the Gym when the massacre happened."

"Hmm…so it's a mystery. Speaking of mysteries, there are a lot of mysteries happening in PAL, and I know for one that PAL had a dark history that involved the current PAL Elite members. I think all these mysteries are probably connected to your Blackthorn massacre as well. If what I think is correct, the Elite members may have a few clues about the mysteries."

"But how do I do that?" Lance frowned. "The PAL Elites are really secretive."

"I think these mysteries may be connected to the Prince's disappearance, so I'll help you. They are not the only ones who can use manipulate aura into abilities." Princess smiled. "I myself can use aura." There was a flash of white light, and Lance was now blinking at Jude. He was also wearing his standard trainer's outfit.

"J-Jude?" Lance couldn't believe his eyes.

"It's still me, Lance." Princess said in Jude's voice. "One of my abilities is to create, shape and manipulate illusions, causing my targets to see, hear, touch, smell and taste things which do not actually exist or cause them to perceive things differently from what they truly are. Which means, now you see and hear me as Jude, but I'm not Jude. Of course, I prefer to disguise myself as this." With that, there was another flash, and Pakura was standing before Lance, wearing today's outfit.

"Now, with this disguise, I'll go to the VIP Box, and see what clues they have so far. Before that." She disguised her Espeon as Sylveon, and a Pokémon she called Meowstic as Skitty.

With that, Princess grabbed Lance's arm, and they teleported outside the Battle Arena.

* * *

"You sure you know how to act like her?" The real Pakura was nowhere to be seen.

Princess nodded. "Of course I do. Wish me luck." With that, she disappeared to the VIP Box, arranging her features to an expressionless one.

"Oh there you are, Paku." Ash greeted her. Princess gave a curt nod. "Weren't you supposed to be at Aquamarine's Style to prepare for your appearance in the Contest?"

Princess merely rolled her eyes, which Ash assumed that she didn't like to show up that early to prepare for her appearance, and would go later.

"So, how's the Eevee that you caught?" Cynthia teased. "She sure likes you a lot."

Princess shrugged. "I'll train her for Contests, probably. So, who's battling now?"

"It's Jude and Maylene vs Misty and Brock." Ash replied. "By the way, Phillip won his match." Princess watched as Jude ordered Gorebyss to use Shadow Ball, followed by Ice Beam on Misty's Gyarados, effectively taking it out.

"And there goes Misty's last Pokémon! Would Brock be able to handle his opponents by himself?" Ken wondered out loud.

Misty looked like she was about to mallet someone, as she returned her Gyarados.

Princess closed her eyes, and concentrated on reading Ash's mind.

'The Danger is quiet  
Silent and tranquil  
Moving in silently for the kill  
On their own free will  
Abused by evil, abused by society  
They are quietly shutting everyone out  
With their Heart full of doubt  
The quiet one is seeking revenge  
For all that they had done  
Acting on their emotions  
Hiding their deadly secrets  
The quiet one sought to let everyone feel their pain  
Never caring if there's no gain  
Anger and hate takes over  
All because of a lost Lover.

But what can Rosaline's prophecy mean? Let's see what we found out. There is only one person causing all these mysteries, and the person is causing them out of revenge. We do not know who or what he or she is taking revenge against. This person only wanted revenge to make everyone feel the pain they had, and this pain probably bred the hate and anger. Could the pain be of this lost lover, or is there something more to it? I better figure this out during lunch.'

Princess looked at Ash. It seemed that even when enjoying the match, his mind is still working like a clock. It seemed that he had a lot of worries in his head, even if he doesn't show it.

When she probed deeper, it seemed like he knew about the Blackthorn City massacre via Lance and Clair's conversation the night of the opening ceremonies, and if Lance ever told his identity before he gave the "Ok" sign, he'll tell everyone about the massacre since he knew it was kept secret, but will only do it if he forced his hand. He's also thinking of this weapon created by Team Rocket 10 years ago, and was eager to find it and destroy it if he can, to remove Team Rocket's advantage.

Ash must have been psychic if he would find out if Lance told. However, she knew he wasn't strong enough to detect her presence when she read his mind- only the Dragon Prince is strong enough to do that.

'I got enough info for now. I better get back to Lance.' With that, she got up, muttering something about the bathroom, and left the VIP Box, secretly returning her Espeon and Meowstic.

* * *

"Here. This is the prophecy that Rosaline made. Apparently, she had this prophecy making ability that only showed up when the danger may mean their lives."

At the library, the Dragon Princess had written the poem word for word, and passed the paper to Lance. Almost no one was there since the matches are still going on. "And this is Ash's deduction of the poem so far." Known to be stronger than even Rosaline in terms of psychic power, it'll be an insult if she can't uncover deceptions, like Red's real name. Actually, he's just using his middle names as his alias, but how many people know his full name?

"Hmm…so do you think the person has something to do with the Blackthorn City massacre?" Lance asked, reading the poem.

"Most likely." Princess nodded. "Whoever this is may be after the lives of the PAL Elites, which was what Ash probably meant when he told you that you might not leave the region alive if you knew too much, because if you get too close to them, your life may be in danger, so technically he's trying to protect you. PAL may be a region that promotes Pokémon as a Trainer's best friend, and give a lot of accommodation to guests, but there's something dark about it, and the Elite members themselves probably didn't notice until the tournament, where they are mostly off duty."

"Were the mysteries that subtle?" Lance asked, surprised.

"Either that, or they were too busy to notice. I suspect the latter. Ash also received information from Pakura that there is a weapon created by Team Rocket, but was stolen by a boy ten years ago. Team Rocket, or at least Giovanni, believed that the boy hid the weapon here, and probably thought Ash himself is in possession of it. This weapon was what Giovanni was depending on to combat aura users, so it's probably aura infused."

"This is getting more confusing by the minute." Lance mumbled.

"First thing you need to do is to find out more information about PAL." Princess said in a matter-of-fact tone. "However, information about PAL is usually restricted, which is why little information about the Dragon Duo is given out, although we are world famous, and why you don't know the names of the PAL Elite members until you arrive here, despite the fact that the Champion was crowned two years ago, making the Elite Four complete."

"But aren't there information about them in magazines and newspapers?" Lance asked.

"Yes, but they are only circulated within PAL, and do not leak outside of our region. Even when their names appear in newspapers or magazines in other regions as they are famous for other stuff as well, you didn't connect them to be members of the PAL Elite."

'Well, that explains everything.' Lance thought.

"There are old newspapers and magazines here, but I doubt you want to look through them, since they are sorted according to name of the newspaper and not what info they give, such as information on PAL's Champion, or how PAL came to be, categories like that." Princess explained, as she logged on to the computer. "If you want information on PAL according to category, it's best to access it through the Hunter website, they sorted all the articles related to one category in there, but it's only assessable by Hunters. Good thing is they also provide articles that were published by other regional newspapers and magazines too. Let's see if we can find anything on that website."

* * *

Ash was playing chess with Phillip during lunch break back at the quarters, deciding to eat their lunch when the afternoon matches resume so they can eat and watch at the same time. The others were all doing their own stuff as well. Pakura was nowhere to be seen, presumable with her stylist. It was Phillip's turn to make a move, and he moved a pawn over to Ash's, and taking his piece. Their Pokémon were having free reign of the place, and Ash allowed it as long as they do not break anything.

Ash thought as he looked over the current pieces still in play. If he took Phillip's Knight using his Bishop, Phillip would be able to take one of his Bishops using his Rook. On the other hand, if he took Phillip's Rook using his own, Phillip would be able to take his Bishop using his Knight. As Phillip was slightly in the lead in terms of the number of pieces left, Ash decided that he should sacrifice his Bishop to take out Phillip's Knight.

He placed the Bishop over, and sure enough, Phillip took out his Bishop using his Rook, and then it was Ash's turn again. Just as he was about to make his move…

"**Come back here!" **Swellow and Emolga yelled.

"**Is it my fault you were too slow?" **Staraptor sniggered, Unfezant following close behind.

"**Why you…!" **They flew right over the Chess pieces, and the wind produced from the speed of the flying knocked over everything- the chess board and its pieces, the chairs Ash and Phillip were sitting on, and Ash and Phillip themselves. Ash and Phillip landed on the floor with a thud.

"Ash! Are you alright?" Cynthia rushed over to help him up. As he got up, he glared at Swellow, Emolga, Staraptor, and Unfezant. "That's it. From now on, flying races are banned in the quarters." Ash said. "If you want to race, you'll have to take it outside."

"**Yes, Ash/Champion." **The four flying Pokémon went back to the others, as Ash, Cynthia and Phillip proceeded to arrange the knocked over furniture.

"What are you reading, Rosaline?" Ash asked, as he used telekinesis to move the furniture. She was reading a magazine "Art all over the World"

"Oh, just checking who the Artist of the Month is." Rosaline replied.

"So, who is it?" Jude asked, as he looked at the pictures of the clothing he as supposed to model for his fashion show.

"Tyler Clearwater." She showed them a picture of a boy with dark blue hair and green eyes. "Born in New York City, he's only 19, but he's a very talented artist who was recently featured in Art in America magazine as one of the more important artists of the new millennium. His recent painting _Sunrise in the Garden_ won this big national award and was sold for half a million dollars!"

"Er….your point?" Phillip asked, picking up the Chess pieces.

"His sketches are as good, if not, better than mine." Rosaline commented. "I wonder how he managed to get his sketches to fade from dark to light and then back again. It's almost animated."

"Oh shoot!" Phillip was looking at Ash's shattered Queen Piece. "Looks like I'll have to fix it." With that, he left for his room.

Ash watched him leave, and then he was offered some fortune chocolates by Cynthia. Ash shrugged, and then took one for himself. He read the fortune printed on the wrapping paper.

_The key to end the matter that is endangering everyone is a simple story. _

Ash apparently had a funny look on his face when he read it, for Cynthia had asked if everything's ok. Ash showed her his fortune, and said, "Well, it can't be a coincidence, can it?"

"**Well, mine says, **_**there would be more people involved in the matter as the ones involved fall in love." **_Pikachu read his one out.

"You gave Pikachu chocolate?" Ash asked Cynthia incredulously, who rubbed the back of her head, all embarrassed. He gestured for Pikachu to give him his wrapping, and he obliged.

"Well, it was delicious, and we had plenty, so I thought we'd share it with the Pokémon."

"**Yum, do you know mine says that '**_**A heavy price would be paid by all when the answers are revealed'**_**?" **Lucario was munching on a chocolate.

"I suppose it can't hurt if it doesn't affect their health in any way." Ash was about to sigh, but stopped. How many times had he been doing that already?

"I'm going back to my room. Call me when lunch is served." With that, he left for his room.

He gathered the fortune chocolate wrappings and the piece of paper containing the prophecy. Could these be connected? If so, how? He looked at his chocolate wrapping. So it looked like the answers to all these mysteries ends with one story. This story apparently holds all the answers they need, and apparently, all of them would ultimately pay a heavy price. And yes, Cynthia became involved because she's dating him. And soon, Grimsley may be involved too. His intuition tells him that Lance is also got himself involved somehow, with that Blackthorn City massacre.

And there's also the weapon Team Rocket had created. He got to destroy it before Giovanni got his hands on it.

Everyone was ok in destroying it once they find this weapon, but Pakura hadn't said anything. Ash had been leaving messages for her during the lunch break, but she didn't answer. Normally she'll answer instantly, even if she was busy, so what gives?

Wait. Something just occurred to him. Blackthorn City massacre had happened five years ago. The Dragon Duo (or at least the Prince, since Rosaline said she saw the Princess once flying on her Dragonite) was missing for five years. Pakura's family died five years ago, since she said they died when she was 15, and she's 20 this year.

It's no longer a coincidence. These events were most likely interrelated to one another.

There was a knock on the door. "Ash?" It was Cynthia.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"Lunch is ready. And Paul's battle is showing soon." Cynthia replied.

"Alright, coming." He got up and opened the door.

**BP: And I'll end it here. So, I'll explain a few things as well.**

**As I have said in the previous chapter, the Dragon Princess would play a bigger role, mainly as Lance's ally in the mysteries of PAL, as they believed that the Blackthorn City massacre had a connection with the mysteries in PAL. If she is in public she'll use her ability to disguise herself as Pakura. Why she chose to disguise as Pakura would be revealed in later chapters. **

**As the Dragon Princess is a stronger psychic than Ash and Rosaline combined, they are most likely unable to read her mind to uncover any deception. **

**You can say the Dragon Princess and Pakura knew each other, but how they knew each other would be very surprising, so stay tuned for the answer. **

**I know, I suck at writing battles and I have the tendency to give more appearances to some characters, particularly those who play a bigger role, completely neglecting the others. Don't worry, Paul, Gary and JJM would definitely have more spotlight in the next chapter, and the traitors as well. Ash would have more appearances as well, as I notice I'm neglecting him a bit, and there would definitely be an Ash x Cynthia alone time next chapter, so look out for it. And there would be more snooping around as well, courtesy of Ash's former friends. **

**Ash would probably find out a little more information as well, which would get him closer as to the story he needs to know in order to know the answers to the mysteries, but he would be side-tracked and you'll see why once Phillip starts dating.**

**The traitors would take action by next chapter. Whether they succeed remains to be seen. **

**I've requested my dear readers for some ideas on what Pokémon he'll get (criteria stated on previous chapter's AN).**

**The Pokémon Ash would get from Trade: (based on readers' suggestions via PM or reviews)**

**1\. Mightyena**

**2\. Ninetales**

**3\. Arcanine**

**4\. Crobat**

**5\. Elektross**

**6\. Slaking**

**7\. Greninja (shiny)**

**8\. Tyranitar**

**9\. Kingdra**

**10\. Honedge**

**11\. Milotic**

**12\. Metagross**

**13\. Dusknoir**

**14\. Gorluk**

**15\. Beartic**

**16\. Volcarona**

**17\. Goodra**

**18\. Dragonite**

**19\. Flygon**

**20\. Houndoom**

**21\. Scyther**

**22\. Absol**

**23\. Aggron**

**24\. Delphox**

**25\. Chestnaught**

**This is what I have so far, and this list would be updated as soon as I receive more suggestions.**

**I beg for suggestions on the following:**

**1\. Either Dawn A) Gets a new Pokémon (of your suggestion) to battle Paul next chapter or  
B) Didn't catch one, and had to battle with two Pokémon  
Please, this is essential for my next chapter. **

**2\. What Paul and Gary can do to unnerve the traitors**

**3\. Pairings for Phillip, Jude and Pakura. (Dragon Princess is optional)**

**4\. Pokémon Ash should get from Trade (4 spots left)**

**5\. Should the Elites befriend any of the traitors' rivals? If so, who? **

**6\. How should Pakura handle Dawn breaking her Pokégear? **

**7\. How I should write chapter 6**

**Please review! I hope to get lots of suggestions and reviews from you all. **


	6. Prince of PAL, Another mystery, arrest

**BP: Hi everyone, thank you for all the suggestions and reviews! Thanks to that, I was able to create this chapter. I love you all! So, I have the finalised list of the Pokémon Ash would get from the trade:**

**1\. Mightyena**

**2\. Ninetales**

**3\. Arcanine**

**4\. Crobat**

**5\. Elektross**

**6\. Slaking**

**7\. Greninja (shiny)**

**8\. Tyranitar**

**9\. Kingdra**

**10\. Honedge**

**11\. Milotic**

**12\. Metagross**

**13\. Dusknoir**

**14\. Gorluk**

**15\. Beartic**

**16\. Volcarona**

**17\. Goodra**

**18\. Dragonite**

**19\. Flygon**

**20\. Houndoom**

**21\. Scyther**

**22\. Absol**

**23\. Aggron**

**24\. Delphox**

**25\. Chestnaught**

**26\. Talonflame**

**27\. Electrivire (shiny)**

**28\. Drapion**

**29\. Blaziken (shiny)**

**And this is the Pokémon he'll obtain at some point later (whether caught or save from abusive trainer, probably the latter) in the story, either on-screen or off-screen (there's no way people would trade a Tauros for these Pokémon, or I ran out of spaces):**

**1\. Genesect**

**2\. Xerneas **

**3\. Swampert **

**4\. Smeargle **

**Thank you for the suggestions once more! **

Ash took a small amount of everything and put it on a plate so that he could eat and watch the match at the same time. Since there were many dishes, his plate was filled up by the time he made his way around the table.

He wasn't the only one to do it though, as the other Elites and Cynthia were also eager to see how Paul did for his match.

"For the first afternoon match, from the Green side, we have Leader Burgh and Coordinator Dawn!" The audience cheered as both of them walked out onto the battlefield.

"And from the Red side, we have Trainer Max, and Trainer Paul!" Max waved to the audience, happy to get acknowledgement from the crowd, while Paul just walked out, not even bothering to look at the audience.

"Paul's so cool!" A group of girls were gushing.

"Paul, we love you!" another group of girls shouted.

Ash had to laugh at the surprised expression on Paul's face when the cameras zoomed in on him. Why is he so surprised about being famous among the PAL people? Trainers that participated in Conferences usually gain a little fame in PAL when they reach the final 16 onwards, since PAL locals do watch the other regional Conferences. Since he was the last 8 in the Lily of the Valley Conference, the PAL locals knew about him. It didn't hurt that he battled well on the first day as well. Still, it was nothing compared to what the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions get on a daily basis, which is why this Tower was built.

Dawn and Max politely greeted each other and wished each other luck, before Evan asked them to send out their Pokémon.

"Alright, Mamoswine, spotlight!" Mamoswine appeared out of her Pokéball.

"Vespiquen, I choose you!" Burgh chose the all-female Beehive Pokémon.

"Mightyena, I choose you!" Max sent out his Mightyena, the same one that Ash used Xatu to battle with.

"Froslass, stand by for battle!" Paul sent out the Froslass that he used against Ash in the Lily of the Valley Conference quarter finals, except Ash could tell that she's even more powerful than usual.

"Now that's interesting. One side each having an Ice Pokémon." Cynthia said thoughtfully.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan put his flags down to signal the start of the battle.

"Froslass, let's start things off by using Hail!" Paul commanded Froslass. Froslass' body glowed light blue and she floated into the sky. Then, thick clouds appeared above the battlefield and a thick fog formed, and it started snowing from the clouds. Froslass started to repeatedly appear and disappear through the battlefield.

Dawn and Burgh were unable to predict Froslass' movements, so Dawn and Burgh decided to attack Max. Though Dawn may have seen it in use before, she only saw it from the side-lines, never in actual battle.

Burgh he proceeded to get Vespiquen to use Air Slash on Mightyena, which Max could barely react to since the fog is rather thick, while Dawn asked Mamoswine to use Earthquake, which threw Mightyena off balance.

"What are you waiting for?" Max yelled at Paul, who didn't call out an attack.

"Waiting for you to get out of the way." Paul replied coldly.

Max growled at him, and commanded Mightyena to use Crunch on an incoming Mamoswine, and Vespiquen retaliated by Attack Order, where her Combee devotees appear and fire a multicolored beam from their faces at Mightyena, which caused him to let go of Mamoswine. The Combee disappeared after the attack. Mightyena let go of Mamoswine, and fell to the ground, but still got up.

"Froslass, Ice Beam!" Froslass suddenly appeared behind Vespiquen, and used Ice Beam, freezing her wings, which sent Vespiquen plummeting to the ground. Froslass then disappeared again.

"Mamoswine, catch Vespiquen!" Dawn's Mamoswine ran to where she was falling, and caught her, and she jumped off Mamoswine's back, landing on the ground safely.

Burgh breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

Dawn smiled. "No problem."

"Mightyena, use Shadow Ball!" Max commanded.

"Vespiquen, Air Slash!" Burgh countered. The Air Slash made Shadow Ball explode, which caused a thick purple wall to form between the two.

"Mightyena, charge in there and give Mamoswine a Take Down attack!"

Just as Mightyena was about to charge through the purple wall, Paul shouted, "Froslass, Ice Shard!" Froslass raised her arms above her head and formed a light blue glowing ball of ice in between them, and tossed it through the exploded Shadow Ball. It actually hit Mightyena, which fell forward, and crashed into Vespiquen. Both of them had swirls in their eyes.

"Vespiquen and Mightyena are unable to battle!" Evan declared.

"Hey! What was that for?" Max shouted at Paul.

Paul shrugged. "Well, you were just in the way."

"And as usual, the Paul and Max pair are arguing." Ken commented. "Would they be able to pull off another victory like yesterday?"

"Actually, yesterday's victory was all thanks to Paul. Max hardly did a thing." Ash said.

"How did you know?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh, before my date with you, I caught a glimpse of the rerun on the TV outside the Battle Arena which happened to be Paul's match. Max's Pokémon need better training in the power of their moves. So basically, he's useless." Ash replied.

"So, a useless deadweight, then?" Phillip asked, quoting from Pakura's nickname to Lance.

"Useless deadweight is too nice." Jude mumbled.

"Mamoswine, use Hyper Beam!" Dawn called out.

"Froslass, Double Team!" Froslass made copies of herself, and they all disappeared and appeared just like the real one.

"Just use it on all of them, Mamoswine!" Dawn shouted. He obeyed, and destroyed every single copy. Soon, the battlefield is empty.

"Where's the real one?" Dawn wondered.

Froslass then appeared behind Mamoswine. "Mamoswine, behind you!"

Before Mamoswine could turn, Paul told Froslass to kiss Mamoswine, which earned bewilderment from his opponents and the audience. Froslass nodded, knowing what Paul meant. She gave Mamoswine a kiss, and Mamoswine glowed red, where a light yellow orb of energy flew off from Mamoswine into Froslass. Mamoswine was now down with swirls in his eyes.

'What was that move?' Burgh, Max and Dawn were all thinking in their heads. They asked Paul, but Paul shook his head, saying he would not reveal trade secrets.

"Wait, who taught his Froslass how to use Draining Kiss?" Jude wondered.

Ash snickered. "I told Paku to teach his Froslass that. It's quite a useful move, being able to recover up to half of the damage taken by the opponent. It's a Fairy type move, so who else better than our own Fairy master?"

The others all nodded, with an "I see what you did there" looks on their faces.

"Mamoswine is unable to battle! Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon."

"Want to bet that Paul would knock out Max's next two Pokémon just to piss him off?" Rosaline asked the group in general.

"Actually that's pretty obvious already." Jude replied. "The question is how long would Max's Pokémon be in the battlefield before getting knocked out."

* * *

Princess was clicking away, and she accidentally clicked on the category labelled "Blackthorn City", which provided a list of the residents of Blackthorn City (current and former). Lance felt a slight stab of pain in his heart when he saw the D for Deceased next to nearly every single name, except for the 9 survivors of the Dragon Clan. There's also one more name that didn't have the letter D for Deceased next to it.

Shiki Kurobane.

"Can you click on this one?" Lance requested, pointing to his friend's name. Princess obliged, and clicked on the name. However, unknown to him, she was hoping he didn't ask this of her. A few articles came up, including one which announced his victory in the Indigo Conference 8 years ago. He knew that Shiki won of course, but he didn't read the article. He impulsively took the mouse from the Princess, ignoring her sound of surprise, and clicked on the selected article.

The picture of Shiki holding the Indigo Conference trophy was on the front cover of the article. He looked almost the same, except his hair was slightly more tamed, and he wore glasses. It was a pretty good picture of him, actually. Somebody must've took it when he was receiving the trophy. He was smiling, but only not at the camera.

Princess, however, was immersed in the article itself.

"Hmm…interesting."

"What is it, Princess?" Lance asked.

Princess opened her mouth to reply, but at that moment, Lance's Pokégear rang. Lance sighed, but opened it to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Lance, where are you?" It was Karen. "You disappeared off somewhere, and now we're waiting for you so we can start lunch!"

"Can't you eat without me? I'm busy." Lance replied.

"Just go, Lance." Princess interrupted, as she erased the web history, and closed the webpage. "They really want to spend time with you, and back in Johto, you guys were too busy with Elite challenges to spend actual time as people, not as Elites. The tournament is the only time you're off duty, so spend time with your friends. We can talk about this tomorrow, just meet me at the usual place."

Lance stared at the spot she vanished, before he said, "Alright. I'll come to the Tower now."

He wondered what the Princess spotted on the article.

* * *

The Dragon Princess teleported back to her cave, and let out her Pokémon. Espeon let out a cute yawn, looking around, before seeing the Princess. He then charged towards her and jumped at her, licking her face happily.

"I'm glad to see you too, Espeon." Princess gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

Two Meowstic came up to her, one male, one female. The Princess gulped when she saw the female Meowstic, as she originally belonged to the Prince. The other Dragon Pokémon also approached her.

"**Hi Princess. Are you alright?" **Salamence asked.

Princess smiled. "Of course I am, why do you ask?"

"**Everyone knows that the smile you put on for Lance was fake, and this mature, wise, kind, strong girl was a façade." **Espeon said.

"**Yeah, we know that you lost this personality five years ago when the Prince went missing." **The male Meowstic added.

"**You haven't truly smiled for five years. And Lance may not have detected it, but when he mentioned the Prince's name, your fake smile faltered for a split second." **Dragonite voiced his concern.

The Princess' smile dropped. "Yeah, I expected he knew Shi-chan since both of them are from the same hometown and same Clan and Shi-chan mentioned that Lance was his friend, but I didn't expect them to be this close. And besides, I doubt he'll take it very well if I told him what happened to his friend, since he's probably still healing from the Blackthorn City incident, that's why I didn't tell him that his friend was the Prince, and why I lied to him."

The Princess sighed, before saying, "I got loads to do. Stay here and wait, alright?" With that, she teleported away.

The Pokémon looked at each other, before Altaria spoke up. **"Poor Princess. She's still heartbroken over him." **

"**Yeah, she still blames herself over that incident." **Salamence whispered.

"**But it wasn't her fault!" **Espeon protested. He was originally the Prince's Pokémon, and he was there when it happened.

"**I know. Nobody blames her, but she still thought that if she hadn't let revenge take over her, the incident would never happen." **Delphox replied.

"**It was never her fault. He did it to protect her." **Garchomp shook his head. He was Shiki's starter, and he knew his previous trainer very well to know what he's thinking.

"**However, while she still trained us to get revenge on that guy, she never used us for battles anymore, having lost the confidence to use us for battles." **Latias hung her head sadly. Her male counterpart, Latios (also originally the Prince's), petted her head, trying to comfort her.

* * *

"Quilava, Shuppet and Crustle are unable to battle! Trainers, please send out your last Pokémon!"

Max was glaring at Paul because near the end of the battle, when they were all tired from battling, he had his Froslass purposefully freeze all their legs, rendering them unable to move, and using the kissing move again, which took all their energy and recovered Froslass to full health. To make things worse, every few turns he kept using Hail so that the Snow Cloak effect would cause Froslass to appear and disappear like a ghost.

"Could you at least not take out my Pokémon when fighting?" Max said in irritation.

"Is it my fault you were in the way?" Paul replied. "Besides, even if we made it to the Top 128, I doubt you'll last on your own in the tournament."

"Watch me." said Max. "I will get into the Final Round, and I will win that Cup."

"Sure, sure. Remind me again who got his butt kicked by Red Satoshi, the PAL Champion that first day we arrived here?" Paul asked.

Max's face was red in anger and embarrassment, since his challenge to Red Satoshi and his loss was broadcasted to the entire Pokémon World, and it's evident the audience was laughing at his expense when he heard them laughing as he took out another Pokéball. "Gallade, I choose you!" He sent out his Gallade.

"Heracross, come one out!" Burgh sent out the Bug/Fighting Single Horn Pokémon.

Dawn, however, didn't send out one.

"Coordinator Dawn? Aren't you going to send out your Pokémon?" Evan asked.

Dawn blushed. "Er….no, I only have two Pokémon on hand."

Paul laughed, as he switched his Froslass for Aggron. "Well I'm not surprised, considering you don't have the skill to catch a Pokémon."

"What did you say?" Dawn shouted.

"What? It's true. Who was the one that threw a Pokéball at a human, thinking it's a Trubbish?"

At those words, the audience started laughing even harder. Dawn's jaw dropped, as Paul just announced her mistake in front of the entire nation. But how did he even know about it? Even Ken was laughing, and his laughter could be heard in the speakers.

"Wait, what?" Phillip was bewildered at Paul's announcement on National TV.

"Oh yeah." Ash was sniggering. "I forgot to tell you."

He told everyone about the incident of Dawn trying to catch a Pokémon during his walk the other night. When he was done, everyone was in hysterics.

"That's got to be the funniest story I ever heard!" Jude was laughing like there's no tomorrow.

"You can say that again!" Rosaline replied, not even holding back her laughter. Phillip was covering his mouth to muffle his laughter, but everyone still knew he was laughing.

Cynthia was giggling as well. "Seriously, who would wear their hair like a Trubbish's ears?"

"Yeah, it's pretty unfashionable." Ash commented, as Evan started the battle once the audience stopped laughing.

"Heracross, start off by using Close Combat!" Heracross charged towards Aggron, ready to launch it, but Paul said, "Aggron, Metal Sound." The two horns on Aggron's head started to glow white and they move back and forth quickly, causing a loud ringing sound to be released. Heracross stopped in its tracks, finding the sound unbearable.

"Gallade, let's use Leaf Blade!" Max said.

"Sorry Max, this is my battle. Earthquake!" Aggron stomped its foot, making the battlefield shake. Both Gallade and Heracross were thrown off balance.

"What are you doing?" Max shouted at Paul.

"Getting this battle over and done with, and it's not my fault you didn't tell Gallade to jump." Paul replied. "Aggron, Fire Blast!" Aggron fired a powerful stream of red-yellow fire from its mouth at Heracross. As the flame travelled towards Heracross, the front of the flame formed into the Chinese word for "Big". It hit Heracross, who was regaining its balance on the battlefield.

"Heracross, use Reversal!" A spiralling energy surrounded Heracross horn, and it flew towards their opponents.

"Gallade, Double Team, quick!" Gallade made copies of himself, and spread them all over the battlefield.

Paul looked around at the copies. It's apparent Max didn't use the move much, as the copies' outlines were fuzzy when he looked carefully. He found the real one hiding somewhere near the side of the battlefield. He shook his head.

He got Aggron to use Aerial Ace to redirect Heracross to hit the real one, and as soon as Heracross hit Gallade, the copies vanished.

"It looks like Paul was able to tell which one was the real Gallade from multiple copies! How did he do that?" Ken wondered.

'Training with Ash, that's how.' Paul thought. "Aggron, finish it off with Rock Slide!" Boulders rained down on both Gallade and Heracross, finishing them off.

"Gallade and Heracross are unable to battle! The winners of this match are Trainers Paul and Max, who would be moving on to the Top 128!"

Everyone cheered, mainly for Paul, who walked out of the battlefield, raising a hand in acknowledgement. Dawn and Max, on the other hand, ran out of the battlefield, one in embarrassment, the other towards the Pokémon Center to heal his Pokémon. Burgh simply returned his Heracross and left without a word.

"Wow, Paul's brutal in his battle skills." Rosaline commented.

"We've seen worse, Rosaline." Phillip looked at Rosaline incredulously. "Our Champion and Leader are ten times worse than that."

"Why thank you." Ash replied, grinning. "Now that it's a single battle, I'm going to give the audience a good show, by thrashing every single one of them, one by one."

"You better. If you don't we will." Jude replied.

Ash stood up. "Cynthia, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Cynthia asked.

"Get some training done. There are some moves I want to teach your Pokémon."

* * *

Ash and Cynthia were once again in Ash's secret spot. He decided to teach her Pokémon some moves today.

"Cynthia, did you know that Togekiss is now a duel Fairy/Flying type instead of a Normal/Flying type?" Ash asked, looking at his girlfriend.

"Really? I didn't know that!" Cynthia exclaimed.

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, PAL classified it as a Fairy type now. That means you'll have an advantage over Dragon Masters such as Lance, Drayden, Drake and Clair. I know your Togekiss doesn't know any Fairy type moves, so I'll teach it some today."

"What are you going to teach my Togekiss?" Cynthia asked eagerly.

"Fairy Wind and Dazzling Gleam." Ash answered.

"Isn't Fairy Wind the same move that Pakura used during the Contest exhibition match against Wallace?"

"The very same. So, let's call out our Togekiss." Ash nodded.

Both of them threw their Pokéballs in the air, and summoned their Togekiss.

"Togekiss, you're going to teach Cynthia's Togekiss Fairy Wind and Dazzling Gleam today. Can you help me?" Ash asked his Togekiss.

"**Sure!" **Togekiss chirped.

"Alright! Togekiss, use Fairy Wind!" Togekiss released a strong gust of sparkling wind that struck a tree. It cut the tree cleanly in half.

"Amazing…" Cynthia was awestruck.

"Your turn." Ash said.

"Togekiss, use Fairy Wind!" Cynthia commanded.

Cynthia's Togekiss tried to build up power to release the strong gust of wind, but all Togekiss managed to do was to create a small breeze from the flapping of its wings.

Ash sweatdropped. "Togekiss, could you tell Cynthia's Togekiss how to do it?"

"**Alright. First, build up power in your body, then flap your wings like you did for Air Slash."**

"**Isn't it just Air Slash?" **Cynthia's Togekiss asked.

"**No, Air Slash builds up power in our wings. Fairy Wind builds it up from the body. Like this!"** Ash's Togekiss built up power in its body and demonstrated Fairy Wind again. **"Now you try." **Ash's Togekiss instructed Cynthia's Togekiss.

"**Well, here goes nothing." **Cynthia's Togekiss shrugged, and tried to build up power in its body. A feeble gust of wind was released, and it gave a small scratch to another tree.

"It's a start." Ash remarked, looking at the small scratch. "Just practice more and you'll get it, Togekiss. Why don't we have a mock battle, and see if Togekiss can perform it?"

"Great idea, Ash!" Cynthia exclaimed. "Togekiss, what do you say?"

"**Ok, sure." **Cynthia's Togekiss shrugged.

"Ready, Togekiss?" Ash asked.

"**As ready as I'll ever be!" **Ash's Togekiss replied.

Ash turned to Cynthia. "You may have the first move." He said to her.

"Togekiss, let's start things off with Shadow Ball!" Cynthia commanded.

"Dodge and use Air Slash!" Ash countered. The Shadow Ball dispersed when it hit the Air Slash, and it went on to hit Cynthia's Togekiss.

"Togekiss, use Aerial Ace!" Ash shouted.

"Use Fire Blast to stop it!" Cynthia commanded.

However, instead of stopping Ash's Togekiss, the Aerial Ace actually glowed in a flaming orange aura. Ash's Togekiss went on to his Cynthia's Togekiss, who started to plunge towards the ground.

"Alright! Togekiss, finish it off with Metronome!" Ash said. Metronome turned out to be Blizzard, and Cynthia could only watch as the ice headed towards her Togekiss. However, suddenly, her Togekiss' eyes opened in determination, and it flapped its wings and produced a sparkly wind from the body, blowing the Blizzard back towards Ash's Togekiss. Ash's Togekiss was blown backwards, surprised by the sudden counterattack.

"Togekiss! You did it! You learnt Fairy Wind!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"**Thanks, Cynthia." **Cynthia's Togekiss looked embarrassed at the praise.

"Now, why don't we try to learn Dazzling Gleam?" Ash asked Cynthia's Togekiss.

"**Sure. I'm ready whenever you are." **Cynthia's Togekiss replied.

* * *

Jude was at his shop again, reading the November's issue of PokéSTYLE (Which only came out near the end of November, and this month's issue was not out yet), while Purrloin was a distance away playing with the train set Jude puts out for kids to play with while their parents shop. He remembered that this magazine had interviewed Pakura, their Leader (Ash refused, because at that time he didn't want info about him to go out in public yet), about the upcoming tournament where every single region would get to compete, and was curious to find out how the interview went (Pakura refused to say anything). He turned to the page and read:

**PokéSTYLE Exclusive!**

**PokéSTYLE chats with Princess Pakura on what it means to be Leader of the esteemed PAL Elite and Princess of the region at the same time, the upcoming Pokémon World Championship, and her fashion must-haves! **

_**PokéSTYLE **__caught up with Princess Pakura this November as she was engaged in one of her leisure activities- training her Pokémon to learn new moves and combinations, since the PAL Elites would participate and make their debut in front of the other regional participants this coming December! At this stage, Princess Pakura looked more like the Leader of the Elite than the Princess of PAL. And yet, she managed to look entirely regal in a white pink sports T-shirt, a black tennis skirt, and blush ruffle combat boots. _

_This is one girl who really knows what it means to have PokéSTYLE!_

_**PokéSTYLE: **__Let's cut right to the chase. Is it true that alongside the upcoming tournament, you'll be having a Contest as well?_

_**Princess Pakura: **__(nods head) _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__So, what is the purpose?_

_**Princess Pakura: **__For Coordinators who wish to find out who's the best of the best, like the Pokémon World Championship. _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__I see. So, how do you feel about the fact that there would be other regional Gym Leaders, Elites and Champions coming here?_

_**Princess Pakura: **__(shrugs)_

_**PokéSTYLE: **__Come on, say something!_

_**Princess Pakura: **__Nothing much. _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__Ok….So how are the preparations? As Elite Leader and Princess of the region, you must be really busy, right?_

_**Princess Pakura: **__Not really, considering the Champion had to help. We are currently practicing our opening ceremonies. _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__How would the opening ceremonies be like? _

_**Princess Pakura: **__Us presenting ourselves to the public, wearing costumes. _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__Is there a theme to it? _

_**Princess Pakura:**__ It's a secret. _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__(disappointed.)__We heard at the end of the tournament, there'll be a formal dance to celebrate the tournament. Is it true?_

_**Princess Pakura: **__(nods) _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__So, don't keep us in suspense! __Would there be any lucky guy who would escort you there? We know many guys are dying to date you, but yet you're still single. _

_**Princess Pakura: **__(glares) If I'm single do you think I'll take anyone? _

_**PokéSTYLE: **__Well, we know, but don't you think you might find a special guy in the form of one of the male Gym Leaders, Elite Four members or Champions? And what would you be wearing? You know strapless dresses are in the latest fashion at the moment. Can we count on you to glitter in gold and be the belle of the ball, like you always are? _

_**Princess Pakura: **__Opps, I forgot Champion Red likes to suddenly appear and make soda rain onto people, and disappear again. Do send the dry-cleaning bill. _

Jude had to laugh at the ending. Ash clearly did it so that Pakura wouldn't be antagonized by the paparazzi anymore. And the non-verbal answers or short answers were typical of their Leader. The next page consisted of him in a photo spread, modelling all the clothing during a photo shoot in early November. The caption was "Fashion Fit for an Elite"

Just then, the phone next to the cash register rang. Jude picked it up.

"Hello?" Jude answered.

"Hey, Jude. How are you?" A peppy voice said on the other line.

Jude sighed. It was his family again, asking him about his well-being.

"I'm fine, though I wish you didn't call me every day to ask." Jude replied, not bothering to conceal the irritation in his voice.

"Come on! Why can't I check how my baby boy is?" His mother asked.

"First of all, mum, I'm already 24. Second of all, as the Elite member of the host region of the tournament, I'm busy."

"Oh, speaking of the tournament, when are we going to get tickets? Your brother wants to meet Princess Pakura and your sister wants to see Phillip, and get Rosaline to sign her manga."

Jude groaned. His older siblings had always been a pain in the neck when it came to Pakura and Phillip. "Mum, Pakura and Phillip would never date anyone just by looks alone."

"Nonsense, I'm sure once they see your brother and sister, they'll want to date them."

Jude shook his head, though his mother can't see it. That's the kind of fantasy world his mum lived in. The kind where Pakura and Phillip would date his siblings in a heartbeat because they were "good-looking" (Phillip actually once said his sister wasn't his type), and where he can get tickets to the tournament in a heartbeat. Well, actually he can, but he doesn't want to. The last thing he needed was his family to embarrass him, or to get mixed up in the mysteries, knowing their nosy nature.

That's when the bell over the front door of the store tinkled, and Phillip came in with Emolga, holding three ice creams from the ice cream store across from his shop. Emolga was flying behind him, eating her ice cream. Phillip handed Jude's fat-free, calorie-free, pretty much taste-free ice cream.

"Thanks, Phillip." Jude said, covering the receiver with his hand so that his mum won't know that Phillip's with him. "I'm just going to finish up this phone call."

Phillip waggled his fingers at Jude to show that he understood, and went over to give the ice cream to Purrloin, before going to the jewellery rack to organize the earrings. Emolga went over to play the toys with Purrloin.

"Are any of the Elites with you now?" His mother asked. "I'll get your siblings on the p-"

Just then, a group of people entered the shop.

"Whoa, look at that, customers just walked in." Jude cut her off. "Got to go, mum. Talk to you later. Bye-bye." With that, he quickly put down the phone.

"Was that your mum?" Phillip asked, coming up to the counter with his ice cream, as the group recognized Jude, and asked him for autographs. They then handed him pens and the same magazine he was reading earlier, turned to the page where he posed for the photo shoot.

"Yeah, it was." Jude replied, as he signed for them, and they merrily went on to shop, and Jude finally started on his ice cream.

"I know how you feel." Phillip nodded, licking his ice cream. "They send messages every time I created a new invention too. It gets irritating after a while."

"Well, at least we aren't like Pakura, who abandoned her own family." Jude grumbled.

Phillip shook his head. "She most likely abandoned them to get to where she is now."

"Yeah, you might have thought she'd at least thank her family for giving birth to her, but no! She didn't even say a word about them. She even told us if we cared so much about them, why don't we be their children?" Jude was angry just by thinking about the arguments they had about her family. "Makes me wonder why she is given the nickname Princess of PAL."

"Well, she's extremely efficient and dependable when it comes to her duties, and can be counted on to get everything according to schedule, and fix mistakes quickly." Phillip pointed out, finishing his ice cream. "Speaking of family, do you think someone would use them against us like what Benzene did?"

Jude looked disgusted. "Like how wanted to use all of us, since we are attractive, and sell us into prostitution to affluent clients of his, and threatened to kill our families if we didn't agree?"

Phillip nodded. "But in the end he didn't have a chance to execute the plan, apparently someone quickly took action by using his mother as an example and killing her in front of him, to show what would happen if he tried."

"Better his family than ours. He deserved it anyway." Jude sneered. Benzene was known to be corrupt after all, at least among the four of them. Actually, according to the resignation letter, he wasn't supposed to be their manager. The manager was supposed to be another person, but Benzene admitted in his letter that he, along with his minions, went to her house and making her write in her will that she'll let him take over the position as manager when she died at gunpoint, and made her write that the Elites have to listen to him before they gang-raped her and killed her, thus gaining the position of PAL Elite's manager.

"Thanks goodness he disappeared. But I can't say I'm not curious as to how he disappeared." Phillip said.

"That's probably another one of PAL's mysteries." Jude replied thoughtfully. "Now I think of it, do you remember the early times when we had him as manager?"

Just then, the group came up to him with the items they wanted to purchase, and Jude busied himself by scanning the products, taking the credit card they handed to him and running it through the scanner, before handing them the receipt to sign and starting to bag their purchases.

Jude couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong, since he couldn't remember the early stages when Benzene took office, and he only had been in office for 2 years. And by the look in Phillip's eyes, it's evident he couldn't remember anything either, Jude made a mental note to tell Ash that it's possible the lack of memories may be another one of PAL's mysteries.

* * *

Pakura sat on Rosaline's bed, waiting for Rosaline to emerge from the bathroom. She had told Pakura about her date with Grimsley, and wanted her to help her prepare for her date. As the Contest had ended before 7, she agreed to help, though Rosaline thought she looked reluctant about it.

To Rosaline's surprise, Pakura had laid out one of her own lovely dresses for her. It was a soft white dress with pink at the hem and the edges of the sleeves. There were also matching shoes with a pink ribbon glued to the shoes.

"Are you sure?" Rosaline asked Pakura, who shrugged.

When Rosaline dressed in the clothes, Pakura tied the pink ribbon attached to the waistband of the dress, and made Rosaline sit down as she combed her hair and put on a pink headband with another ribbon attached to it. Rosaline gasped at herself in the mirror. She looked very simply like a girl. A young and cute one, fifteen at most.

"Oh My God, thanks, Pakura!" Rosaline was smiling at her reflection in the mirror. Pakura stayed silent, and just passed her one of her handbags to put her stuff in it- it's pastel pink in colour, and has ruffles all over it.

Rosaline then sat down and put on a simple lipstick and gloss, as Pakura wordlessly handed her some jewellery to wear.

"And I'm done!" Rosaline announced cheerfully, as she packed some of the more important stuff inside her handbag such as her CommuniDex (her CommuniDex didn't go well with her date wear so she took it off), lipstick, mirror and some tissues. Meanwhile, Pakura was silently straightening her pearl necklace.

"Enjoy yourself." Pakura said flatly, as she left Rosaline's room to return to her room.

Rosaline exited, just as the elevator dinged, and Ash and Cynthia entered the quarters.

"And I'll take you out to town tomorrow, Cynthia, since tomorrow is break for us. I can get one of the other Elites to take care of Pikachu and Lucario so it'll just be the two of us, and it'll be a date." Ash went on. "Do you know you actually need a driver's license to drive a car?"

"Really?" Cynthia was intrigued. "So who has a driver's license among you five?"

"Well, if you mean the license, both Paku and I have one. But if you mean a car, only she owned one."

"Why didn't you own one?" Cynthia asked.

Ash shrugged. "I didn't need to travel as much as she does, and I only took the test for fun." He stopped when he saw Rosaline's outfit. "Hey, that's a cute dress. Where did you get it?"

"From Pakura." Rosaline chirped. "These are actually hers."

Ash raised his eyebrow. No wonder the dress looked designer made. Aquamarine probably made this dress specifically for Pakura.

Cynthia took one look at her, and said, "Have fun."

"I will." Rosaline cheerfully replied, before exiting through the elevator.

"**Well, one thing's for sure. It won't get boring during this tournament." **Pikachu remarked.

"**You can say that again." **Lucario replied.

"Do you know what this means?" Ash said, grinning at Cynthia. "We'll have the whole dinnertime to ourselves."

"It's too bad we can't go somewhere." Cynthia said wistfully.

"Who says we can't?" Ash asked, as he set up dinner for their Pokémon.

The next thing Cynthia knew, Ash had ordered a bunch of food, grabbed some blankets, and gestured for Cynthia to follow him. Cynthia was puzzled as she followed Ash up a flight of stairs, indicating he was taking her to the roof. When he opened the door, Cynthia was amazed at the fact that they had built a flower garden at the roof itself. The twinkling lights from the buildings of the region sparkled like fireflies, and adding to the moonlight, Cynthia could see the flower garden clearly. The wind chime tinkled in the wind like music.

"Wow…" Cynthia expressed her amazement.

"It's great, isn't it?" Ash enquired.

"Your region never fails to amaze me." Cynthia replied.

"We try, we try." Ash said with a mock bow, before taking a sip of his soda.

As they ate, Ash showed off some of his skills he acquired in the last four years. He snapped off hanging vines and some flowers and used his newfound knowledge to make a flower crown. As he did, he infused his aura to preserve the beauty and freshness of the flowers, and placed it on Cynthia's head.

"It's beautiful, Ash." Cynthia gushed. "Who taught you how to make it?"

"Phillip taught me how to make some basic traps before I became Champion." Ash replied. "I just applied the same concept, except I used soft vines and not barbed wire."

"It's pretty comfortable on my head." Cynthia was poking the crown on her head. "So, any more interesting things to share during your four years?"

Ash thought for a moment. "Have I told you about the time where Jude accidentally destroyed Phillip's bomb that was disguised as a cellphone?"

"No, but tell me more." Cynthia bit into a drumstick.

Ash animated his face as he recalled the event, a true story, where Jude dropped Phillip's invention, which broke into pieces because it was fragile, and Phillip later asked where it was, but Jude said he didn't know anything, so Phillip pressed the button to locate it. It turned out Jude hid the evidence in the toilet bowl and the entire toilet exploded, even some of the floors and walls weren't spared, and the other three (Rosaline, Ash and Pakura) were staring at them from the exploded walls in their current locations. What was more embarrassing is that Rosaline was in her room changing at that time, which let everyone have a good look at her underwear. That had earned them a trip to the dungeon for two weeks.

Cynthia laughed, as she tried to imagine the event, as she threw the bone into a plastic bag Ash brought along.

Cynthia stared at Ash as he told her yet another funny story. She knew despite the fact that he seemed to be relaxed and cheerful, deep inside, he was worried, fearful, of the mysteries that may involve everyone's lives. She could almost feel his need of solving it as soon as possible, and silently swore to help him the best as she could.

* * *

When they got back down, full from their dinner, the quarters were empty. Ash found a note on the dining table, and rushed over to see it. Attached to the note was a single petunia.

"What is it, Ash?" Cynthia asked.

"Someone left this here while everyone is asleep." Ash replied. "But who?"

The note was printed, so it's impossible to find out the handwriting. There are no traces of aura in it, so Ash couldn't trace this back to the sender.

"What does the note say?" Cynthia asked.

Ash tentatively opened the note, and read the following:

_The saddest people smile the brightest_

What does this mean? And why would they leave a petunia for him?

"Ash, I think the petunia means something. Do you know anyone who's good at the flower language?" Cynthia suggested.

"I think Paku might have learnt about flowers when she was made to take princess lessons when she was given her title." Ash said uncertainly.

"Then you should ask her." Cynthia nodded.

"Alright, I'll do it tomorrow or something." Ash replied, pulling Cynthia into a kiss to bid her goodnight.

A few minutes later, they broke up.

"See you tomorrow." Cynthia whispered.

Ash smiled, and waved, as she stepped into the elevator.

"**Had a great night?" **Pikachu asked, as Ash entered his room. He had given Pikachu a key to his room so that whenever he's busy (read: spending time with Cynthia), Pikachu can get into the room without having to call Ash.

"It wasn't bad." Ash smiled, as he changed into his pyjamas, and fell to the bed. Seconds later, he was asleep.

* * *

"You ready?" May asked Misty, Dawn and Iris. Since it was quiet, they assumed everyone was asleep.

"Yes. I got one trainer that is very eager to see where the so-called princess lives, and agreed to go up first to help check if anyone is there, before he signals us with my Pokégear. While he distracts whoever is awake, we sneak to the 11th floor, and take the stairs to their floor." Misty replied. "He's meeting us at the entrance of the Pokémon Center."

"Great." said Iris. "Maybe he'll do something to her that will ensure that she'll never do anything to us ever again."

"Oh, I hope it happens!" May sneered. "Let's see if she'll be known as the girl every girl wants to be, and every guy wants to date after it happens!"

Unbeknownst to them, when they left the Pokémon Center, the door to the boys' rooms opened and a certain Croagunk went after them.

* * *

_Ash was in a place he recognized as the Dragon Shrine. Looking around, Pikachu and Lucario weren't with him. There were seven adults staring at a silhouette, who apparently came in uninvited._

"_Who are you?" One woman asked. _

"_Who am I?" the voice laughed. It sounded female. "I don't think I should answer that, now, should I?" _

"_You're intruding into the Dragon Clan's territory!" A man said. "I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave."_

"_Ah…The so-called famous Dragon Clan Blackthorn City had. Too bad it won't last long." The girl took out a Pokéball. "You're the last ones after all." _

_The adults themselves summoned their Dragon Pokémon, and commanded them to get the girl._

"_Dragalge, if you please." The girl said in a bored tone. _

_The Dragalge easily took out the adults Dragon Pokémon. While the adults were staring in shock at their Pokémon, the silhouette took out an array of knives, and threw them at their chests. Two of them managed to avoid them in time. _

"_Quickly! Contact Lance and Clair and get them to come, immediately!" The first one commanded the second one, before his throat was slit by the girl. The second one gasped, but took out her Pokégear, and the girl threw a knife at her hand, pinning her to the wall, causing her to drop the Pokégear in the process. The girl threw another one at her other hand for good measure, and crushed the Pokégear under her shoe. _

_The girl walked up to the woman, and made sure the woman looked into her eyes. _

"_It's too bad it didn't occur to you I was born with the gift of enhanced intelligence. Surely you know that every generation, one member of the Dragon Clan is born with Enhanced Intelligence?"_

_The woman nodded, frightened. "Don't tell me…."_

_The girl grinned. "Yes, it was me."_

_The woman groaned. "So no wonder the children didn't seem to have anyone with Enhanced Intelligence, because you already had it."_

"_Yup, now goodbye!" The girl said in a falsely cheerful tone. _

"_Wait, please, I-" The woman was cut off when the girl stabbed her in the stomach. _

_The girl took their Pokéballs, and escaped out into the edge of Blackthorn City. _

"_Now, it's time to test out my new powers." an aura surrounded her, and when she spread her arms, it started snowing, and it got harsher and harsher, until it became a blizzard with strong winds blowing. _

"_May they suffer for eternity for what they had done." The girl muttered, before teleporting away._

THUD!

Ash sat up, panting. He knew he had just dreamt of the Dragon Clan being wiped out. If the voice was any indication, the criminal was a female. Whoever this woman…no, girl, since she sounded young, must be causing these mysteries too! However, he didn't know her appearance, for she was just portrayed as a silhouette, but she apparently owned a Dragalge. Could she be a type specialist, or was she mixed, like him and Cynthia and many other trainers? And what was that noise that woke him up from his dream?

Ash frowned, and opened the door, only to see four girls sprawled on the floor along the corridors. The bewilderment was evident on Ash's face as he recognised those girls as the traitors. What are they doing here? Well, no matter. He needed to knock them out before they find out his secret, since he isn't wearing a hood.

"Butterfree, Sleep Powder!" Butterfree obliged, and flapped his wings above the girls and blue, shining powder is released from them, instantly putting the girls to sleep.

A Croagunk was standing over them, remarking, **"You know, if it wasn't for the fact that I had to help Ash make sure Brock never gets a girlfriend, I would've gone to him a long time ago." **

Ash recognised this to be Brock's Croagunk, and judging by his aura flow, Ash knew he wasn't lying. He smirked, as he got an idea.

"So, Croagunk." Croagunk turned to him, and his eyes lit up in recognition. "How about helping us keep an eye on these traitors and keeping us informed?"

Croagunk thought for a split second, before nodding. **"Definitely, Ash. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." **

"Go back to Brock for now, alright?" Ash said. "Watch them for me."

Croagunk nodded again, as Ash decided to teleport the girls and Croagunk back to their rooms for now. A blue glow surrounded all five, before disappearing.

A male voice cried out from the living room, and Ash turned to the source of the noise. Ash wondered who it could be, since it didn't sound like Jude or Phillip.

He walked to the living room, when he saw a man was being strung up by his ankles, having stepped into the trap that one of his Elites had apparently strung up. Pakura was sitting at the couch giving the man a patronising look. Judging by the fact that the man had his eyes closed, it's most likely Pakura knocked him out while he was still stuck in the trap.

"What are you doing up again?" Ash was puzzled. Why does she keep staying up late?

"Right back at you." Pakura retorted.

"I had another weird dream via one of my abilities again." Ash answered.

"Well, never mind that now." She replied, pointing to the man strung up. "This person snuck into our quarters via the elevator, and when he saw me, tried to get close to me, only to be strung up by his ankles by the trap I set. I didn't take those girls seriously when I overheard them in the toilet about their plan to take back Manaphy because of their stupidity, so I didn't say anything to the other Elites, and only set this one trap, but it looked like they had meant business, and actually came prepared."

Ash's face darkened. "You mean the traitors actually tried to sneak in our quarters?" Ash hissed, angry. "And Misty used her Gym Leader status to enter and brought a guy in to molest you?"

"I don't see what the big deal is." Pakura waved dismissively.

"Of course it's a big deal! It means they are starting to take action!" Ash ran a hand over his hair in frustration. They are a bigger nuisance than he thought. Well, no matter. He'll just crush them in the tournament. "And why would the man try and do this to you?"

Pakura shot him a sarcastic look, and Ash remembered.

"Oh yeah…you're considered the hottest and most beautiful girl in the region." Ash mumbled.

"And thus I attract a lot of guys." Pakura concluded.

"Even the other regional male Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions can't take their eyes off you." Ash laughed. "Ok, maybe except Lance, since you insulted him."

Pakura raised an eyebrow, as if to tell him he forgot someone, and Ash said, "Oh and Grimsley. After all, he asked Rosaline out."

"What should we do to him?" Pakura asked.

Ash examined the man, and vaguely recognise him as a rookie trainer from one of the other regions.

"It's not as if he'll make it to the Top 128 anyway, so bring him down and tie him up with another rope. Place him at the stairwell where someone can see him, and leave a note to whoever finds him to arrest him. I want him to suffer from being tied all night first." He doesn't tolerate men who only thought of girls as a sex object like this man, especially when the girl in question is his Leader, who seemed to be a pervert magnet.

Pakura brought the man down, and tied him up with another rope, before dragging him none too gently towards the stairwell.

"Ash, should I leave him outside the stairwell or drag him down one flight?" Pakura asked.

Ash shrugged. "See as you deem fit."

"Alright." She held the man by the ropes at the edge of the stairs, and let go. Ash could hear him thumping down the stairs.

"Typical." Ash muttered, as Pakura returned, dusting her hands.

"Want to talk about the dream?" Pakura asked.

Ash told her all about the dream, where he watched a girl wipe out the last of the Dragon Clan. She had ice powers, and she utilized it to create an eternal blizzard to let them suffer. "But who we know uses ice powers?" Ash concluded the tale with this question, and sighed. He knew none of the Elites used ice powers, since whenever they were together practicing their abilities, no one used ice. The closest was Jude being able to manipulate the temperature of the water, but he couldn't cool it to the point where the water would freeze.

'Me.' Pakura thought, but she didn't say anything, since she never showed them all her abilities, and she had no intention to either, because half her abilities aren't even originally hers, rather, it was given to her by the boy she had dated. Her first love, and the only person she can safely call her friend.

He suddenly remembered there were a few things they had to talk about.

"Paku, do you know about the language of flowers?" Ash asked.

"Yes, why?" Pakura asked, bored. "Did you want to send some flowers to Cynthia? Don't worry, I'm sure she'll love the flowers you send no matter the language."

"No, someone sent a flower, and I want you to tell me what it means!" He brandished the petunia that was sent to him.

"Oh, petunias? They represent Resentment and Anger but can also mean that the receiver's presence soothes the sender. Is that all?"

"No, and there's this note." He handed her the note that he received alongside the flower.

"The saddest people smile the brightest. Sounds like you, Ash." Pakura tossed the note back to Ash.

Ash opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. She was right. He was sad because of the betrayal by his friends and mother, and his mother going missing, only to learn through his dreams that she got killed. And yet, he smiled much brighter than the other Elites (that is if he did smile), something that the Elites were quick to comment about.

"_You have the brightest smile among us, Ash." _

Ash smiled. "I guess you're right, thanks…..and why didn't you reply to my messages?" That was the last question he wanted to ask her.

"Which one, Prince Ash?" Pakura asked coolly.

Ash twitched at the nickname. Actually, when Ash defeated her, he was supposed to be given the title of the Prince of PAL as well as PAL's Champion, as he dethroned her when he won the Elite challenge. However, he wished to keep his identity a mystery, and as Prince, he'll lose all of his anonymity, having to attend functions of state such as attending parties held by renowned people, opening balls, etc. So he made a deal with Pakura, where he'll help her out with the paperwork, on the condition that she'll continue to rule as Princess, however, decisions are still up to him, as he's the Champion, and he is in charge of the region.

Although the deal he made with Pakura was made known to the public, they still occasionally called him "Prince of PAL" or "Prince Red" (or Prince Ash, for those who knew his real name, which is only a handful), in addition to his "Silent Hero" nickname.

"The ones where I told you we would destroy the weapon once we find it? Ring any bells?" Ash asked.

"Ah, that one." Pakura replied non-committedly. "It's up to you, Ash. Anyway, you better get to bed, it isn't good if you look tired in the morning or worry about other things during your date. Just relax and enjoy yourself."

Ash was puzzled at her giving dating advice, but then remembered that she had dated once before.

"You sure you're not going to sleep?" Ash asked.

Pakura shook her head.

"Well, then, goodnight, Paku."

She nodded, as he left her alone in the living room, and entered his room.

"I wonder if Ash would ever find out that the weapon is much closer than he thought it would be." Pakura mused to herself. "It'll be an interesting experiment."

* * *

Ash sat down on the edge of the bed, careful not to disturb Pikachu. He suspected that the message the sender wanted to send was resentment and anger towards them when they had sent the petunia.

Could the sender know that he was betrayed by his friends, or was it just a coincidence?

Ash sighed. How was he supposed to sleep now when he knew that the person responsible of the Blackthorn City massacre may be watching all of them at the tournament, waiting for the right time to strike? He sat there until the sun rose, signalling morning.

He delayed going down to breakfast as long as possible because he had way too much in his mind, and he didn't want to spread his worries to the entire room, as he knew negative emotions spreads faster than positive ones. He took a long shower and brushed his teeth, dressed slowly in a hoodie shirt and jeans, and ordered food from the menu in his room by speaking into a mouthpiece. In a minute, sausage, eggs, potatoes, bread, juice, and hot chocolate appeared. He ate his fill, trying to delay going out. By 8.30am, Jude was pounding on his door, obviously fed up with him, ordering him to get his ass to the dining room.

Ash sighed, and dragged himself out the room after waking Pikachu and Lucario up, and they meandered down the hall towards the dining room.

He made a mental note to mention the note, the petunia, and the traitors starting to take action to the other Elites tomorrow during breakfast before the Top 128, as today was a day of relaxation, a worry-free day.

The other Elites (obviously except Pakura) were already assembled, and Ash noted Grimsley's presence. Phillip had his IPad propped up, and judging from the swiping of his fingers, he's playing a game.

"Slept well?" Jude asked.

"Not bad." Ash lied. He looked around for Pakura.

"Where's Paku?" Ash asked.

"She left a note this morning." Phillip handed him the note.

Ash opened the note, which was in Pakura's handwriting.

_Gone to trade Ash's Tauros. Don't wait up. –Pakura. _

"What are you playing, Phillip?" Cynthia asked.

"High School Story." Phillip mumbled, tapping away at his IPad.

"Oh, is it the one where you set up your own school and have students of different categories?" Ash asked.

"That's right."

Rosaline waved her hand, like an enthusiastic student that is eager to answer a question in class. "Oh! Name some of the students after us! Name them after us!"

Phillip tried to calm Rosaline down. She had been in a happy mood since she returned from her date with Grimsley. They didn't get to ask her about her date until the next morning, where Rosaline was already up (or rather, Pakura poured water on her face to wake her up).

Of course she had a fabulous time. They went to dinner at Chef's Heaven (a four star restaurant, but then again, PAL restaurants are all at least four stars and above) and then walked around the region and went to some bar and sat outside at the PAL gardens until 11.30pm, just talking. Jude did try to find out if they kissed the way Ash and Cynthia did for their first date, but she just smiled and looked all embarrassed.

"Ok. What kind of student do you want to be?" Phillip asked.

"There are types of students?" Rosaline frowned.

Phillip nodded. "Yeah. There a lot of types. Let me tell you about the types…." He then began a long explanation of the types of students available.

(One long explanation later…)

"I didn't know there are many types of students." Ash mused. "What student should Phillip name after me?"

"A wallflower. You know everything from outside perspective, you see everything, know everything, but you do not say much about it. Also, it's Prep, Jock, and Nerd combined, and you're a bit of all three." Jude replied.

"And I think you should be a cheerleader Jude, you're athletic, you're very sociable with other people and can get them to have fun, and you know the latest trend. Cheerleaders are jocks and preps combined." Phillip added, tapping away on his IPad, customizing some of his students that are of the respective types that is fitting for them (according to the discussion) and renamed them after his fellow Elites.

"Alright. Did you name one after yourself?" Jude asked.

"Yeah. I'm a nerd." Phillip replied.

"Figured as much." Cynthia said.

"And you should obviously be an artist, Rosaline." Ash laughed. "After all, you love drawing a lot."

"It's obvious what Pakura should be. She should be….." Jude started to say.

"Prom Queen!" Everyone shouted in unison, before bursting into peals of laughter.

"What do you think Cynthia and Grimsley are?" Jude wondered.

"Cynthia's a President, since she had the leadership skills to manage the Sinnoh Elite, and Grimsley's probably a jock." Ash replied. "Since his personality is like the typical jocks in the high school movies."

"What?" Grimsley protested. "I do not act like one!"

"Maybe not a jerk, but a flirtatious personality is certainly one of the traits jocks in the movies possess, and you do too." Phillip retorted. That kept Grimsley's mouth shut.

Ash laughed alongside the others, almost forgetting about yesterday's (and this morning's) worries.

Almost.

But Pakura's right. He needed to relax, if even for a short while. Worrying too much may affect the ones around him, especially Cynthia. Maybe a walk would help him clear his mind.

"I'm going for a walk." Ash muttered, leaving the penthouse. Pikachu and Lucario blinked before following him.

* * *

"What do you think, guys?" Ash asked his two partners. He had told them everything about the petunia and the note, what the petunia meant according to his Leader, and the break-in earlier this morning.

"**Hmm…do you think they are the ones who sent the flower and the note?" **Lucario said.

Ash shook his head. "No, I found the note and the flower before the break in, so it's unlikely."

Pikachu looked thoughtful. **"Ash, if the person sent the note without arousing suspicion, could it be that this person is actually living in the Tower?" **

Ash stopped. Wait, why didn't it occur to him before? The only people that won't be suspicious of being in the Tower are the ones that actually live there at the moment. But something else also hit him.

"Yes, but remember, others are also allowed if they have one Gym Leader, Elite Four or Champion to accompany them." Ash said, sighing.

"**Well, I doubt that, considering the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions have hardly any friends- except for each other." **Lucario said.

Ash shot Lucario a look, and he said, **"What? It's true." **

Ash hated to admit it, but Lucario was right. He never saw any of them talk to others that are not Gym Leaders, Elite Fours, or Champions, due to the fact that only they understood each other's feelings about the fame that came along with their positions. Ash had friends outside of the three positions mentioned- except that he made friends when he was plain, ordinary Ash Ketchum. Not as Red Satoshi, the PAL Champion, Silent Hero, and Prince of PAL.

"**I wonder what the person meant when they wrote **_**the saddest people smile the brightest." **_Pikachu pondered.

"Beat me. They could be referring to me." Ash shrugged.

"**Or someone else." **Lucario piped up. Ash and Pikachu looked at him. **"I think the person was leaving a clue for Ash. Remember the prophecy? The person causing all these mysteries wants to let everyone feel their pain, and those who are feeling pain are most likely sad. And by the note, it meant that the person causing all these has the brightest smile." **

"Lucario, you're a genius!" Ash exclaimed.

"**Hate to admit it, but that makes sense." **Pikachu nodded.

"There you are, you poacher!" A voice shouted out. Ash sighed, as he recognised the voice. Pikachu's cheeks sparked, ready to attack at Ash's command.

"How may I help you, girls?" Ash asked sarcastically.

"Yes, you can. Hand over Manaphy." May demanded.

"For the last time, I did not poach Manaphy." Ash sighed. When would this get in their head?

"Yes, you did! Manaphy was supposed to be at Samiya, but he's now under your ownership!" Misty accused.

"I can very well charge all four of you for trying to steal my Pokémon this morning, so you better back down." Ash warned.

"**Yeah, and one more word, you'll be treated to a Thunderbolt, max power!" **Pikachu hissed.

"**Don't forget my Aura Sphere." **Lucario growled.

"It isn't stealing when you're trying to rescue a Pokémon!" Iris added harshly, as she took out a Pokéball along with the other three girls. They threw their Pokéballs, and out came Excadrill, Mamoswine, Gyarados, and Venusaur.

Before Ash could react, four of his Pokéballs opened, and out came Mew, Shaymin, Manaphy and Meloetta. When the girls saw Manaphy, they started towards him, but was held down by Mew's Psychic.

"**I won't let you attack our friend!" **Mew hissed.

"**You arrogant humans need to be taught a lesson." **Meloetta added.

"**Yeah, you're only deluding yourself if you think we don't want Red as our trainer." **Shaymin said.

"_I'll protect Papa!" _Manaphy declared.

The girls gasped as they recognised the Legendaries they had met while travelling with Ash.

"I don't even need to tell you which moves to use now, so just give them what they deserve." Ash commanded.

Mew used Thunderbolt on Gyarados, Shaymin used Energy Ball on Mamoswine, Meloetta used Relic Song, followed by Close Combat on Excadrill, and Manpahy charged an Ice Beam at Venusaur. The attacks hit their respective targets, sending them flying and hitting a tree, before sliding down. They now had swirls for eyes.

"You bastard!" May screamed.

That was when Pikachu decided to unleash his Thunderbolt.

"**Take this!" **He screamed, shocking the girls with his best Thunderbolt. While they were shocked, Lucario decided to fire Aura Spheres at them, which hit them with a lot of force.

"Manaphy, want to say something to your so-called 'mama'?" Ash asked.

Manaphy nodded, and glared at May, as she made eye contact with him.

"_I hate you, May!" _Manaphy declared, which broke her heart.

"Great job, all of you. Your power has astounded me." Ash praised, as he offered them all Poképuffs, which they happily accepted.

"I think it's been one eventful walk. Let's go, guys." Ash turned and walked back to the Tower, intend on going up to the Tower to change and take Cynthia out to town, his Pokémon following behind him.

Once he was out of sight of the girls, he made a call to the Hunter's Association Headquarters. He already crushed one of them in the battle, and Jude had made sure she, along with her partner, never made it to the Top 128 anyway.

Ash grimaced. Let's see if they would learn their lesson with Misty as an example. He doesn't need them to side-track him when there are mysterious things going on that may endanger his region, and more importantly, his friends.

If they don't, he'll make sure they fall, one by one. And he's not talking about just defeating them in battle.

* * *

"What do you think, Ash?" Cynthia came out of the dressing room wearing a ruffle neck black cocktail dress. Ash took her to the city part of the PAL region, just as he promised. Cynthia had asked if it's ok to just go in public like that, but Ash said that PAL locals know how to leave people alone, unlike the other regional people.

Cynthia was immediately taken to the clothing they sold, and dragged Ash to the first boutique she saw.

Ash looked up. The hem just reached her knees, and Ash could truthfully say that she looked amazing, but he was a bit too used to seeing her wear black. He decided to give her his honest opinion.

"You look amazing, Cynthia, but to be frank I got a bit tired seeing you in black." Ash sighed.

"Oh? Does black look bad on me?" Cynthia looked surprised.

"No it doesn't, but your everyday outfit is entirely black, thus I see you in black all the time, which gets boring after a while." Ash explained.

"Oh." Cynthia looked in the mirror. "Thanks for being honest."

"No problem." Ash replied, as Cynthia looked around at the boutique, before selecting a few more dresses, and disappearing into the dressing room.

"Then, what do you think of this one?" Cynthia came out in a white strapless dress with a rose attached on the left side of her waist.

"You definitely look beautiful." Ash replied truthfully.

Cynthia gave a sly smile. "Are you sure you're not just flattering me?"

"Cynthia, if I gave you my honest opinion about the black dress, would I lie this time?" Ash answered just as playfully.

"Hmm….I think I want to try on more dresses." Cynthia declared.

"Alright, take your time. If you're done, pass the clothes you want to me, and I'll purchase it for you."

Normally, this is one of men's main woes when it comes to shopping with their girlfriends. The girls trying on clothes is simply exasperating, as the men just sat there and waited, wishing that they could just pick a dress already. But not for Ash, because he isn't an ordinary guy, and considering he had to live under a same roof with a male supermodel for nearly four years (which meant Jude actually made them change their outfits when he felt that it isn't good enough to go out to public), he was pretty used to the clothes thing, and learnt to have patience when it comes to others trying on clothes.

Cynthia came out wearing a sweetheart lemonade dress, which Ash thought matches her hair, and while it accentuated her figure, it didn't look good on her. Ash shook his head indicating it didn't look nice.

"How do you instantly form opinions like that?" Cynthia asked, as she came out in a sweetheart smocked pink dress that made her look younger than she actually is, almost as if she's a teenager instead of a 23-year-old adult.

"I lived with a supermodel for nearly four years, Cynthia." Ash replied.

"Ah, I see." Cynthia laughed. She grabbed the clothes that she wanted, and passed them to Ash. "Can we go to the other clothing shops after this?"

She expected Ash to say no like any other men, but Ash shrugged, and said, "Why not."

'I think living with Jude gave him the patience. Not that I'm complaining.' Cynthia giggled inwardly, as Ash flashed his Hunter license, which meant he didn't need to pay at all.

"See you again, Champions!" the salesgirl giggled, as they left.

"I'll teleport these back to my room." Ash announced, holding the bags that contained Cynthia's clothing. "That way, you can keep shopping."

Cynthia nodded, as a blue glow surrounded the bags, before disappearing.

"Where do you want to go next?" He asked.

Cynthia looked around the shops, and pointed to another boutique. "That one."

Ash shrugged, and followed Cynthia to the boutique.

* * *

"Thanks for taking me shopping, Ash." Cynthia said appreciatively. "I can't believe there are so many clothing items I'd be attracted to. I loved the designs and colours." The few times the Sinnoh Elite went shopping together, Aaron, Flint and Lucian ran out of patience watching them try on clothing items in half an hour flat, but Ash on the other hand let her shop for as long as she wanted, and he didn't even show a sign of impatience when she tried on shoes, clothes or browsed the accessories for six whole hours.

"Well, PAL always liked to keep to the latest trend, and we aim to please." Ash smiled. "I also booked tickets for us to watch a theatre play."

"Oh, what's the name of the play?"

"It's called The Phoenix Prophecy. According to the summary, a girl lost a memory in a car crash, and she woke up in an unfamiliar world, and it's up to her to reveal the truth." Ash replied. "It sounded interesting, so I thought we could watch it together. After the play, we can go have lunch."

"Sounds like a fantastic idea." Cynthia said, as Ash led them in the theatre after showing their tickets and letting the usher rip off part of it.

Ash and Cynthia found their seats, and settled down, waiting for the play to start.

During the play, Ash could hear Cynthia gasp at surprising things or whenever things took a downhill turn for the main characters, cheer when things became good for them, and lean forward slightly when there was suspense. He petted her when she watched a touching scene where the antagonist captured the protagonist and her love interest, and the protagonist was forced to watch her love interest die in front of her from the torture that the antagonist dealt out.

In the end, however, the love interest was warped in some space-time distortion, the same one that appeared before the protagonist, which allowed her to meet her deceased mother and he returned to the condition his body was in before the antagonist dealt, and emerged the destroyed torture room unharmed. They were reunited, and they play ended there.

"That was one exciting play." Cynthia commented, as they filed out of the theatre with everyone else.

"Yeah." Ash replied absent-mindedly, as he glared at those about to approach them for autographs or those about to take out their devices to take a picture. "Let's get out of here." Ash grabbed her wrist and hightailed out of there.

Cynthia was amazed by the speed Ash can run. He was pretty fast, and running with him (or being dragged) is rather exhilarating.

"You ok, Cynthia?" Ash asked.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Cynthia replied, giggling.

"There's a place up ahead where we can grab some sushi for a late lunch. Want to go?" Ash asked. "Or would you prefer something else?"

"I think sushi's fine." Cynthia smiled.

"Alright, let's go." With that, they made their way to get lunch.

* * *

The boys could tell right away that something was up. The girls had this looks on their faces as if they had just swallowed a sock when the boys came to check up on them in the afternoon.

And May was found with dried tear tracks and red eyes, which the girls knew it was from Manaphy's harsh words.

True, they did swallow the whole story that Iris fed them about the fact that they wanted to take a walk: "Oh, you know, we couldn't sleep so we decided to take a walk, and it was 3.30am before we finally got tired so we went to bed. This morning, the weather was nice so we thought we'd take a walk as well." The last sentence wasn't a lie though.

The girls daren't tell the boys that they snuck out of the Pokémon Center to get in the Tower, only to wake up in the Center, for fear of them thinking they're just dreaming, and how Red Satoshi kicked their asses this morning with the Legendary Pokémon that they had met during their travels with Ash.

They believed the girls about the strolling in the park thing, but they were still all over May about the crying thing. Max was saying, "Why are your eyes so red and squinty? You've been crying, sis. Why were you crying? Did something happen? What happened? Did the PAL Elites do something to you?"

May shrugged, and tried to look out of the room window at the beautiful view of the PAL gardens. "It's nothing." May replied. "PMS."

"It's not PMS. You had your period last week. I remember because you were yelling at mum to get you a pad, and then you ate two whole packs of Yodels after dinner." Max said. "So spill. Did those Elites call you a nasty name?"

"Max, do you know it's embarrassing to discuss a girl's menstrual cycle in front of everyone?" Misty scolded him. "You have no sense of privacy at all."

May sighed. "It's fine. Just drop it, ok?"

"We'll talk about this when you feel like it, ok?" Brock asked. May nodded, biting her lip.

"Do you want us to get you girls anything?" Cilan asked.

"Some soup and sandwiches would be nice." Misty nodded.

"Sure, we'll go get them." Trip nodded, before the boys left the room. "You need to eat up before your matches later." Unbeknownst to them, one of them won't be having a match anytime soon, along with her tag partner.

Once they were gone, the girls started discussing.

"What are we going to do?" Misty asked. "Now we know that this Red had more than just Manaphy."

"I don't know. I know we just failed in getting Manaphy back twice. The first time, I remember standing outside a door, about to pick the lock, when someone jabbed me on the back, and knocked me out."

"Now I think of it, we haven't seen the male trainer that we used as an accomplice. Where is he?" May wondered.

Iris shrugged, and turned on the TV to distract herself. The next second, Iris screamed, and dropped her remote, as she was turned to the PAL News Channel.

* * *

"_Remember, Paku-chan, reputations can be repaired, although I doubt anyone still remembered you, considering you're now living life under a new name. Even the most tarnished pot can be polished to a sheen once more, you know."_

Pakura sighed, as she made her way through the forest back to the Tower, with Sylveon walking beside her, Skitty and Eevee (who now developed the habit of letting herself out of the Pokéball and appear on her shoulder) on each of her shoulders. She was carrying a box full of Pokéballs that contained the Pokémon that she had traded for Ash all over the five regions. The reason why she was able to come back by mid-afternoon was because she left extremely early- hours before the usual time for breakfast. Her head had hurt, as usual, and all she wanted is to go back and rest, but alas, she still had lots to do.

She thought back to the nickname she was given. To the public, it's an important title, but to her, it's just another burden in her life. Now that she's a princess, it's going to be even harder to tell which guys like her for her and which guys like her for her fame and looks, as she is considered one of the most beautiful people in PAL. Adding to her Legendary Coordinator status, her Elite Leader position, naturally, she had a very huge fan base.

'Why did the citizens even give me this title anyway?' She thought, thinking of the tiara she received because of her status in disgust. 'It's not going to bring him back is it?' She'd gladly exchange all that she had, fame and fortune, for a simple life with her first (and only) boyfriend, perhaps even married to him.

Although Ash had as many titles as her (Champion, Prince of PAL, Silent Hero), he had slightly less fans because he only made his debut in PAL two years ago, and the fact that he always hid his face under the hood (due to the fact that he didn't want the traitors to find out his location at that time), and some citizens of PAL weren't fans of people hiding their faces. Pakura inwardly thought that had the public seen what Ash really looked like, he'll be the most popular Elite in PAL (this position is currently held by her), as he'll probably charm the girls with his dashing looks, and Cynthia would probably have a lot of competition.

She grimaced as she thought of the number of people who asked her out because they fell for her looks, or they were so fascinated by her being a princess they can't see the person behind the crown. She wished she was an average-looking person instead of stunningly beautiful, and instead of Ash letting her keep her Princess title, she could've had her title taken and be nicknamed something else, something like Dragon Slayer. And instead of her being Leader, her first boyfriend would be the Leader, and she'll be the third member. Either Jude or Rosaline (preferably Rosaline in Pakura's opinion) has to go, of course.

It had been 10 years since the boy, who later became her boyfriend, took her away from her "home", 8 years since she started a relationship with him and made her debut with him in public, 5 years since she parted ways with him, four and a half years since she became an Elite member, and in less than one day she'll be starting to participate in single battles of the Pokémon World Championship. Her life was already a nightmare.

Her thoughts were interrupted when someone bumped into her. "Ouch!" Although Pakura just stumbled back, she dropped the box of Pokéballs containing the traded Pokémon.

She looked up, and raised her eyebrows to see Lance.

"Watch where you're going, dumbass." Pakura picked up the box.

Lance glared at her for giving him yet another name.

"What are you doing at this remote part of the forest anyway?" He wanted to know. He was hoping he could get Pakura away from the cave since that's where the Dragon Princess lived. Then again, only Dragon Masters can see the cave, so it's unlikely that she could see it.

"Back at you." Pakura replied coolly.

"I was about to train my Pokémon here." He lied smoothly.

Pakura raised her eyebrow. "Liar."

That got Lance. How did she know he's lying?

"How did you know?" Lance demanded.

"Not only are you useless, you are stupid and rude." Pakura remarked, putting down her box, taking out a notepad, and writing something in it. Lance gave her the death stare (which she ignored) as she ripped the notepaper away, folding it and passing the note to Lance, before she picked up the box, and left the forest with her Pokémon.

When Pakura left, Lance opened the note. It said:

_Just a piece of advice: If you want to continue meeting her, avoid the other Elite members. Rosaline's investigating the Dragon Duo case, and looking for the Dragon Princess. That idiot knows she's alive because she saw the Dragon Princess flying on her Dragonite once and tried to follow her, but failed._

_Relax. I won't tell those morons you're meeting the Dragon Princess. You might want to wait for her in the cave, since she's not in at the moment. How do I know this? Simple. I can see the cave, and I can detect the psychic defences used to compel people to ignore the cave, but tell the Princess it wouldn't work on me, because I have psychic shields in my mind which makes me immune all mental intrusion, so you don't have to worry about Ash or Rosaline reading my mind. And I couldn't detect any human presence in the cave that lead me to guess that the Princess is out at the moment. And you might want to destroy this, because it's not good if they read it now, right, useless deadweight? _

_P.S: At least be useful in keeping your secret (or Ash's for that matter), because you're useless in tag battles. _

"What a critical bitch." Lance muttered, slightly pissed at her name calling but knew that she was right as he entered the cave, and true to Pakura's note, the Dragon Princess was out. Seeing the fireplace that the Dragon Princess had set up, he threw the message into the fire, watching it being destroyed. He sat on a chair, and waited for the Dragon Princess to return.

* * *

"Yes, we are going I have the tickets for weeks now." Ash said, in answer to Cynthia's question. "I didn't know you would want to go to Jude's modelling show."

"I really want to see what PAL's latest fashions are." Cynthia replied. "I mean, the clothing sold around here are all just….too beautiful for words. Thanks for the shopping trip."

Ash smiled, as he popped another piece of dragon roll into his mouth. "If you want, I can take you to some other shops next time we go out."

"That'll be great, Ash!"

"Anything for you." Ash replied.

Just then, the TV turned to a news broadcast.

It was live footage outside the Tower where the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions reside. A female reporter was standing outside, where she gravely reported that a male intruder had been found at the stairwell between the 11th and 12th floor. At the background, there were people carrying a man away to a car, as he appeared injured, and Ash recognised him as the man that Pakura caught via a trap last night.

"Earlier today, a man has been found tied up and gagged in between the 11th and 12th floor. He found by none other than Elite Shauntal, who entered the stairwell to get to the rooftop. Elite Shauntal, your statement please." The reporter held the mic to Shauntal's face.

"I was on my way to the rooftop, you see I like to go there to get some ideas for a new story, but when I got halfway to the 12th floor where the PAL Elites reside, I found an injured man tied up and gagged." Shauntal said. "There was a note saying to arrest him if he was found, so I reported it to the receptionist at the lobby, who in turn called the authorities."

"I see. Thank you Shauntal. According to Phillip Robinson, third member of the PAL Elite, and the Elite's genius, the man wasn't a Gym Leader, Elite Four, or Champion, so why would he be found there in the first place?" The reporter asked the questions that everyone probably had in their minds. "Any words to say, Phillip?" She shoved the mic in Phillip's face, eager to get a statement, but Phillip stepped away. Cynthia realized that Ash's Pikachu and Lucario are currently with Phillip. Apparently, Ash asked Phillip to help take care of them so they could be alone.

"Well, I cannot say I know exactly why he's there, but I suspect he snuck in to meet one of his favourite Elites or Champions up close. Judging by the fact that he was found between the 11th floor and 12th floor, I deduce that it's one of us. If I were to guess who, it's most likely Pakura. After all, she's very popular with the entire male population." Phillip said, looking at Jude instead of the camera.

"How about you, Rosaline?" She asked.

"I'm sure he was most likely caught trying to sneak in by the Champion or the Leader." Rosaline replied.

"And you, Jude?" The reporter asked gently, as the cameras now trained on Jude.

"This actually comes as a shock that someone would dare trespass in private property. This Tower is designed for us to relax, and no fans or reporters could get in. While no one but Gym Leaders, Elite Fours, and Champions are allowed in, people are allowed to go in as long as any of them invites them in. Judging by this rule, I suspect someone of those following three positions might have let this man in, thus from now on, we will tighten the security. Only the residents of the Tower may invite anyone in, as we know some opted out of the Tower rooms." Jude said firmly.

"And what would be the procedures?" The reporter asked kindly. Cynthia privately admitted that the journalists and reporters from PAL are much gentler, and kinder than the ones in the other regions, who would just shove the mics in your faces and take pictures without permission.

"We will only allow non-residents invited by the current residents into the Tower until 10pm, and the ones invited must register at the counter at the lobby of the Tower. Furthermore, they must provide information on who invited them, confirmed by a signature of the resident inviting them in, and they must provide a detailed itinerary of exactly what they plan to do in the Tower, and which floors are they going to be at, besides showing two pieces of photo ID to the receptionist to photocopy before we'll allow them to go up the elevators." Phillip replied. "And if there are invited non-residents, one of the PAL Elite must be in the surveillance room to turn on the surveillance cameras of the floor the guests are going to be at to make sure nothing funny happens." Ash knew that Phillip designed this procedure himself, if not why else would he provide such a long explanation without pausing?

The reporter then turned back to the cameras. "The Champion and Leader are unavailable for comment, as neither of them were in the Tower at the time of the discovery. The man is taken into custody for a statement, and depending on his statement, we will leave it up to Prince Red or Princess Pakura to give the orders."

"There was an intruder in the Tower last night?" Cynthia exclaimed, horrified. She turned to Ash. "Do you know anything about this?"

Ash nodded, and told her about the intruders that broke into their quarters this morning.

"May must've gotten it in her head that she is Manaphy's only mama." Cynthia nodded knowingly. "She probably thought that you manipulated him into thinking I'm his mama."

"But that's not true." Ash pointed out. "He chose you himself."

Cynthia laughed. "Try telling that to the girls."

Ash sighed. "Well, they are bigger…pests than we originally thought. They actually came up with a clever plan this time, getting a male trainer to check if anyone is in the quarters via the elevator, and if there's anyone, he or she would be distracted while they use the stairs, and if it wasn't for Croagunk using Poison Jab before they could do anything, they might have succeeded in their plan."

"Do you think they'll be arrested?" Cynthia asked.

Ash's face darkened. "I won't charge them for trying to steal my Manaphy, because I want to exact revenge myself. I'm not going to play nice anymore." He offered the extra piece of crispy salmon to Cynthia, which Cynthia thought the gesture was sweet, as she knew he wanted it, but still gave it to her.

"I see." Cynthia remarked, as she ate the piece of crispy salmon skin. Then she remembered something from the news report.

"Wait…Prince Ash?" Cynthia asked, giving the Ash the 'explain yourself' look.

Ash gulped, looking like a kid who'd just gotten caught jumping a turnstile by PAL's Transit Authority. "Well, you see…."

* * *

May clicked off the TV after watching the broadcast, fear written all over her face.

"Do you know what this means?" Dawn whispered.

The girls looked at one another in apprehension. What's going to happen now?

"Hey, your food is here!" Max announced, as he brought the tray of sandwiches, while Trip was carrying the soup. Brock and Cilan were carrying the drinks and cups.

"We picked up some ice, too." Cilan said. "I figured you might like your drinks cold." Seeing the looks on the girls' faces, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Oh nothing much." Iris replied. "Thanks, guys."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Max got up, and opened it. Outside stood two officers, one man and one woman. They are wearing casual, but by the emblem of the badge they are wearing indicated that they are from the Hunter's Association.

"Which one of you is Misty Waterflower?" The woman asked.

"I am." Misty replied. "Is something wrong?"

The man held up a pair of handcuffs. "Yes. Misty Waterflower, you're under arrest."

**BP: Ok, and I'll end it here.**

**I'll explain a few things as well. **

**Ok, the reason why the Elites had a break is because they already won two tag battles that assured their places in the Top 128, which means they don't have to return for the third day to battle again, hence why Ash was free to spend his day with Cynthia. **

**I have good news for everyone: From Top 128 onwards, all five of the PAL Elites' battles would be shown, which means more action! It will be a 3-on-3 battles until the Top 16, which would then change to 6-on-6 battles. **

**The Pheonix Prophecy is actually the title of an Episodes app story. I do not own the title or the summary. The High school story is also a real game app that I play. **

**And yes, the Elite themselves run the region, so Ash as the Champion had a lot of power and influence. I did this on purpose because I feel that it'll be a bigger blow for the traitors if they find out that not only is Ash the Champion, he is practically in charge of a whole region, which would make them regret having belittled him, seeing now he is WAY better than them, and too good for May, Misty, Iris and Dawn. **

**Yes, he's the Prince of PAL, and yes, he was also the one that allowed Pakura to keep her title (although she shouldn't because she lost to him) but the title isn't used very often (a lot of them preferred calling him Silent Hero, as he saved the world from the five evil teams). And yes, he is easily the most powerful guy in the region (status wise and Pokémon battling wise). **

**This means he can actually punish Hunters for murder (though Hunters can kill), and of course, he had the Hunter's Association in his command as seen in this chapter. While Ash didn't care about what they do to him (he let the breaking in of their penthouse to take Manaphy slide), let's just say he's protective of his other Elites, especially Pakura, because she's his closest friend. Why Misty was arrested was because she brought in the man that was about to attack Pakura (though he knew she could've handled this easily, he doesn't take kindly to people attempting to attack his friend). Whether he intends to use this power to punish the person causing this mystery remains to be seen. **

**Ash would get one step closer to solving the mystery (or getting a new info or clue) every chapter. And when Phillip starts dating (yes, he's next), that's when it'll be more obvious when the Elites' lives are in danger. **

**Pakura would handle Dawn breaking her Pokégear by next chapter. **

**Poor Ash had more problems, as the traitors proved to be a bigger obstacle than he thought. Don't worry, Paul and Gary would come to the rescue next chapter! Since Tracey isn't participating in the tournament, he'll only be there when Ash is relaxing and chilling with friends. **

**On next chapter, Ash would be training his traded Pokémon, his combat skills and his abilities, so look forward to it. Phillip starts dating as well, and Paul and Gary starting to help Ash fend off the traitors.**

**There'll be more battling action next chapter, so look forward to it!**

**Suggestions are welcome on the following: **

**1\. How Pakura should handle Dawn for breaking her Pokégear **

**2\. How Paul and Gary should handle those traitors (after Ash tells them everything that happened this chapter)**

**3\. Rivals they should befriend.**

**4\. Pairings for Jude and Pakura (Phillip's was decided)**

**5\. Who should Jude and Phillip face for the top 128 (Ash, Pakura and Rosaline had been decided by me and my friend mysterypink98)**

**6\. How should the traitors react at Misty's arrest next chapter**

**Once again, thank you for helping me to create this chapter, and do give me lots of reviews and suggestions!**


	7. Arceus' information, the clues, Top 128

**BP: Thank you all for the reviews, favourites and the follows! First of all, I'd like to apologize if Cynthia is a bit OOC. I'm trying my best to rectify this problem. And thanks for your suggestions, I was able to create this chapter for my dear readers! *bows***

**Before we start, however, I have a message to all by mysterypink98:**

_**Hi everyone, mysterypink98 here. Before I begin, I just want to say thank you to all the loyal readers. It means quite a lot, when you leave suggestions and positive reviews to us (especially to BookPrincess28, since she wrote the entire story). But that brings me to my main point. I'm here to address an issue that BookPrincess28 and I feel that we need to bring up to our readers. It is regarding the issue of the submission of OCs. Generally, I feel happy that our readers also want to contribute to the story in one way or another. However, at the end of the day, you have to understand that while our readers can contribute in small ways, ultimately, we decide what happens in the story. So don't feel too upset if your idea or OC didn't get accepted. We don't hate your idea, it's just that, sometimes, we don't want to make any major changes to the story or the idea doesn't exactly fit into the context of the story. However, we are NOT accepting OC so please do not submit them. Please respect our opinions on this issue. I hope you understand our decisions and continue to support our story. Thanks a lot!**_

_**And BookPrincess28, Happy Birthday to you.**_

**BP: And that is the end of the message. I would like to say, I value every single reader's opinion, but ultimately, mysterypink98 has the bigger say, since she is my (real life) best friend, and she did give some ideas here way before I wrote this story. In fact, I didn't create Rosaline, as Rosaline is created by her. Now, please enjoy the story without interruption. ****Yes, I updated this chapter on my birthday, I'm so pathetic.**

"What? You can't just come in and arrest her as you please!" Max shouted, blocking the man's way to Misty.

"Yes, we can, especially if it's under the Prince's orders." The woman replied calmly. "Now step aside, or we'll charge you for helping a criminal."

"She's not a criminal!" Iris shouted. "She's helping us rescue a Pokémon!"

"Yeah, so I didn't do anything wrong!" Misty added. "Who does the Prince think he is arresting me like that? Do you know who I am?"

"Maybe so, but an order is an order, and I must take her into custody." The man replied.

"I can sense the bitter taste of saying goodbye." Cilan sighed. That earned him a few knocks on the head, courtesy of Dawn.

"We're not handing our friend over." Trip declared.

The woman, seeing that they were about to take out their Pokéballs and attack (in Misty's case, she's taking out her mallet and trying to hit the woman), took out her Pokéball quickly, threw it and said, "Chimecho, Psychic!" Chimecho appeared, and its eyes glow blue, then the traitors became outlined in blue and they were lifted into the air, immobilizing them.

"Nice reflexes, Kendra." The man said appreciatively, as he snatched Misty's mallet out of her arms.

"Thanks." Kendra replied.

"You can't do this!" May screamed.

Kendra sighed. "They just won't stop, would they?"

The man shrugged, as he handcuffed Misty's immobilized arms, and nodded to Chimecho to let her go. Chimecho obeyed, and both of them grabbed her on each of her upper arms. Not in the nice "Come on" kind of way of course, but in a "You're busted and you're coming with me, young lady." which is very true in this case. Misty had to admit that she was scared of what was to come, but she still kicked and screamed for them to let her go, trying to break free of their grip.

The pair dragged the screaming banshee out of the Pokémon Center, where a third person was waiting with his Gardevoir. The others followed them out of the Pokémon Center, screaming Misty's name, promises to help her get revenge, and to get her out of prison as soon as they can.

"Let go of me!" Misty shouted, struggling against the tight grips of the pair, but to no avail, seeing as they are much stronger than she is. "I said let go, I'm telling you! I'm a Gym Leader, and my sisters are world famous performers! They will hear about this, and they will release me!" She was making such a spectacle of herself that a few who were in the vicinity of the area stopped whatever they are doing to stare at the scene with wide eyes.

Some of the PAL reporters were quietly filming this live, and others were writing what they saw happen. They were whispering to themselves, and exchanging puzzled looks as to whether Misty knew how much trouble she was in with Champion Red, seeing as he had ordered her arrest, and also, PAL technically had power over the other regions, seeing as they are the ones who support the other five regions as well, so not even the regional Champions can do anything about his decision. Soon, the pair finally got Misty to the owner of the Gardevoir, and the third person ordered the Gardevoir to use teleport. Soon, they vanished, presumably to Hunter's Association Headquarters.

Unbeknownst to them, a pair of people were standing at the edge of the forest watching the scene.

"What's going on?" Princess asked Lance. She was disguised as Pakura once again.

"Misty is being arrested for bringing that intruder in, I presume." Lance replied.

Seeing Princess' puzzled look, he went on to explain. "This morning, an injured man has been found tied up and gagged in between the 11th and 12th floor of our Tower. There was a note saying to arrest him if found, so they did. Misty was arrested most likely because she let him in the Tower."

"Did the reporter say why they would break in?" Princess tilted her head.

"No, but Phillip speculated that he snuck in to meet one of the PAL Elites, since he was found between the 11th floor and 12th floor. He thinks it's Pakura he's trying to meet, since she's very popular among the males."

Princess made a thoughtful noise in her throat. "Her friends are pretty upset." She commented, and pointed to the group of traitors who were looking around as if they were at a loss of what to do. Lance's frown deepened by a fraction as he saw Brock, May and Max, but the Princess merely looked curious. The Princess made brief eye contact with May. May narrowed her eyes at her, and stomped towards her. Her friends followed, wondering what she saw.

"You!" May screamed at Princess. Princess gave her a bewildered look. "How dare you land our friend in jail? Have you no shame!"

Before the Princess could do anything, Lance stood in front of her.

"That's enough, May." He quelled the urge to scream at them for what they did to Ash, and tried to subdue the anger he felt just by talking to them. "She didn't order the arrest, I can vouch for her."

"Wait…so that means Red was the one?" Trip asked.

Lance nodded, praying that it is the truth and Pakura wasn't the one who ordered the arrest.

"I know! Lance, could you please talk to Champion Red and get him to show leniency to her? After all, she's a foreign guest here." Brock pleaded.

Lance shook his head. "No, if she did something wrong she should be punished for it."

"But she didn't do anything wrong!" Dawn protested.

Iris turned to glare at Princess. "Hey, could you go and release Misty from the prison? She didn't do anything wrong" Iris requested rudely.

Princess gulped, but composed herself. "Well, I would, if it weren't for your rudeness."

"You…" Iris went to give her a punch, but Cilan restrained her.

"Iris, we're already in big trouble as it is. Do you want to be charged for assaulting a PAL Elite?" Cilan hissed at Iris.

"But Cilan, she's refusing to release Misty! She didn't do anything wrong!" Iris protested, struggling against Cilan's grip.

"Come on, let's go while they're distracted." Princess whispered to Lance, who nodded, and quickly escaped the scene.

Once they are out of range, Lance asked, "Are you alright? You look like you're going to freak out."

At the last two words, Princess was slightly agitated. "What have I done for them to be so rude to me? Is this my fault?"

"You did nothing." Lance said firmly. "And it's not your fault. They have been like this since they arrived here. But whatever you do, you must avoid them, and do not interact with them. They are actually worse than that, and I don't want you to get mixed in."

Princess tilted her head. "What did they do?"

Lance sighed. "Let's just say Ash, who used to be a cheerful, happy-go-lucky boy who would charge in without hesitation to save Pokémon, even if it meant prying into others' business, became a cold, calculating, mature person that stays out of others' business and leave them to deal with their problems after he opposed their opinions on him."

"That's sad." Princess nodded. "Ok, I'll stay away."

"Alright, I got to go, see you tomorrow."

"Wait."

Lance turned to her, eyebrows raised.

"Well, Rosaline is going to give a lecture on the History of PAL, and I was wondering if you'd attend with me."

"You're going?" Lance asked.

Princess nodded. "I'm disguising myself as Pakura though."

Lance smiled. "I'll go."

* * *

"Well, that explains a lot." Cynthia said. "You could've told me you were the Prince, you know."

"You never asked, and it didn't really come up, since Pakura had always been the Princess of this region, even before I came along." Ash shrugged. Just then, there was a beeping noise, as Ash received a message on his CommuniDex.

Ash took one look at the message and sighed, as he was so swamped up with the preparation of the tournament, trying to get and figure out the clues to solve the mysteries once and for all, training for the tournament, trying to spend time with Cynthia and his friends, planning on the events for each day, and now he had to go to the Hunter's Association Office to take a look at the reports on what happened during the arrest. He hit his head against the table, which is not-so-princely of him.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked, concerned.

"Paku just told me I needed to take a look at the information given by the reporters just now." Ash replied. "I'm afraid we have to go back right now."

Cynthia looked at Ash's troubled expression, and knew that he had had enough problems already, probably with their lives on the line and he's trying to squeeze what little time he had with her. She made a mental note to get one of the Elites to train her in combat or something, because she was determined to stay by his side, and fight alongside him.

Ash grabbed her hand, and together, they teleported outside the Battle Tower.

"Sorry I'll have to leave you here, I'll send your purchases to your room later, alright?"

Cynthia nodded, as Ash kissed her on the lips briefly, before hurrying off to the office.

'Hmm…maybe I should go up to his floor and wait for him. Perhaps I can help him with his work as well, I'm quite used to paperwork by now.'

Cynthia thought she was pretty slick, going to Ash's floor to wait for him to return so they can spend more time together (albeit it's helping with work), since no one would be in the penthouse, figuring that everyone would be somewhere outside doing their own stuff, or in the guests' cases, exploring their region, since PAL had so much to see. Who would want to hang around the penthouse during break anyway?

She had forgotten, of course, about Pakura, the one that liked solitude so much that she never joined the Elites for mealtimes. She was sitting on the floor with her laptop on the table, apparently writing away on a report, judging by the typing sounds she heard. She was eating a power bar, and had a can of soda next to her laptop. Her Pokémon were somewhere at the side, playing together.

Cynthia thought her extremely busy schedule was starting to take a toll on her, since she seemed rather listless and often, she'd rub her temples as if to ease a headache. Cynthia noted that despite this, she still looked irresistibly alluring.

Pakura didn't look up when the elevator dinged, which signalled Cynthia's entrance. It was only when Cynthia saw down on the couch next to her did she look up and when she saw Cynthia, she lowered her power bar and went, "Well, if it isn't Champion Cynthia."

"Hello, Pakura." Cynthia greeted. "What are you doing on the laptop?" She decided to make some small talk.

"Work." Pakura replied shortly. As she did her work, she tried to get Cynthia to spill her guts, because she seemed troubled, and although Cynthia insisted that she's fine, Pakura did not buy it.

Cynthia eventually found herself telling Pakura every last thing: the stuff about the mysteries of PAL, which she now had to be involved, but felt inadequate since it seemed that Ash had to protect her, Ash probably thinking of the mysteries and trying to figure out the clues all the time, even when he's supposed to be resting, as it could be mean the lives of his friends and their families, the traitors getting in the way of Ash solving the mysteries, and how Ash is always frustrated with worry, and Ash always waiting until later to tell her what he knew about the mysteries. She knew Ash found out something new about the mysteries, but he didn't mention it to her today, and how she wanted him to just talk to her about his problems and they can solve it together, and he doesn't have to face it alone, since she will be there for him, and wished that he could understand.

Along the way, she mentioned that she wished she was stronger so she could fight alongside them and not stand in the side-lines should anything happen to them, which could occur anytime.

Finally, Pakura stopped typing, and looked up to her. "Ash always puts up a façade so no one would worry. The betrayal actually hit him harder than you might think and recently, he found out his missing mother's fate. Apparently she was killed by the Leader of Team Galactic, Cyrus."

"What?" Cynthia shouted.

Pakura frowned at her. "He didn't tell you?"

Cynthia shook her head. "Why would he hide such a thing from me? Doesn't he trust me?"

"You mustn't think he's keeping secrets from you by not telling, Champion Cynthia." Pakura went on. "Try to understand it from his point of view. He lost his friends, he lost his mother, and people have high expectations of him as he's PAL's Champion, Prince, and Hero. The pressure is bound to overwhelm him one day, and you know he doesn't like to see others worry, that's why he keeps his secrets. What he doesn't know is that he's just going to hurt himself in the end if he keeps going around lying to everyone except me about how he feels, and he should start by talking about his feelings with you. Try and show him that his feelings have worth, won't you?"

As Cynthia nodded, Pakura went on, "All you can do now is assure him you'll be there no matter what, and try to get him to open up to you. As for him trying to protect you, it's not because you lack in Pokémon battling skills, it's because you lack the basic combat and weaponry skills that we PAL Elites have, because the people who would come for us in time would kill us if they could. Just get one of us to train you in that field so that he'll have a peace of mind."

Seeing Cynthia's sceptical look, Pakura sighed. "I'm sure Ash feels that he's way too lucky to get a beautiful girl like you as his girlfriend. Just show him you're as lucky to have him. Now go away, can't you see I'm busy?" With that, she turned back to her computer and continued with her work, as if they had never talked about her boyfriend in the first place.

'Did she just call me beautiful?' Cynthia thought in surprise, never hearing Pakura give a compliment.

She thought of what Pakura had said, and made up her mind to get one of the Elites to train her in combat, so that in time, she's assured that she can back Ash up if needed.

* * *

With this, Ash got from his date with Cynthia to sitting in the Hunter Association's Office in a space for a mere half an hour. He was quite angry on the inside since he had to cut short his date with Cynthia due to one stupid bint. According to Pakura's message, he had to come to the Association Office since there were reports he had to look over since the said subject wasn't exactly compliant with them; on the contrary, she was really defiant, according to one of the members in the building.

'Misty is such a big whiner.' Ash thought, shaking his head.

"Champion Red?" A woman opened the door, and peeked in.

"What is it, Arianna?" Ash sighed. "Let's get this over and done with."

Arianna nodded, and gave him a stack of papers, and a thumb drive. "I just got from the PAL News Agency on the Gym Leader Misty's arrest. There was a bit of trouble in arresting her, so I would like you to take a look and decide on the course of actions. And in this thumb drive is the video on the arrest."

Ash nodded. "Thanks."

"Oh, and could you do an in-depth story on the break-in incident for our paper, since we need details on what actually happened do that we could charge the two people in question."

Ash nodded. "Sure, I'll also get details from Pakura's side of the story in the report." With that, he left the office, carrying the reports he had to look over and the thumb drive. He knew it was going to take a few days, since he still had other things to do. He strode towards the elevator at the Tower, and pressed the number twelve button. The doors slid together and he zipped upward, and to his surprise, both Cynthia and Pakura were in the sitting room, Pakura on her laptop doing her work, and Cynthia petting Pakura's Sylveon.

"Hey, girls." Ash greeted them. Cynthia waved at him, smiling, while Pakura nodded curtly.

"Paku, could you lend me your laptop for a while?"

Pakura obliged, and Ash inserted the thumb drive at the computer, opened the Documents and clicked on the corresponding data. He found the video that the reporters filmed earlier today, and clicked the "Play" button. Cynthia and Pakura, along with Pakura's Pokémon, leaned in to watch the video.

They watched as a man and a woman, members of the Hunter's Association, dragging Misty out of the Pokémon Center, towards a third person with his Gardevoir. The other traitors followed them out of the Pokémon Center, some, like Max and Dawn, screaming Misty's name, others, like Iris, Brock, Trip and May, were promising to get revenge for her, and to get her out of prison as soon as possible.

"Let go of me!" They heard Misty shout as she struggled, kicked and screamed, but to no avail. "I said let go, I'm telling you! I'm a Gym Leader, and my sisters are world famous performers! They will hear about this, and they will release me!"

"You can tell that to the judge when you go on trial, that is if the Prince or Princess allows it." The man informed her.

"I don't care if they are the Supreme Rulers of the Universe! I did not do anything wrong, so release me!" Misty yelled. "I'll make sure they lose their positions for corruption, I'm telling you! You can't arrest me! I'm the best Gym Leader Kanto ever had! Get your hands off me!"

"**What an arrogant bint." **Skitty remarked, Eevee and Sylveon nodding in agreement.

That was when the man signalled for the third person to get Gardevoir to use Teleport, and they vanished from the scene.

"What do you think?" Cynthia asked.

"I'll see if I can get a footage from the surveillance cameras to send as proof so that I can get it in the news tonight to humiliate Misty further. I know for one that there is a TV in prison that is usually turned to the news. Also, I'll write an article to get it in the newspaper, and Paku, could you be the one to address the reporters on this issue after the following is done?"

Pakura shrugged. "Will do." She said. Pakura took her laptop, and went into her room, her Pokémon following her, closing the door behind her.

"I'll leave my work for later. Why don't we go for the show?"

Cynthia nodded. After Ash left the papers and thumb drive in his room and saved the footage of Misty's arrest in hi CommuniDex, they left the penthouse.

* * *

Jude ran towards the place where he was going to model his clothing, clutching to his Purrloin tightly. His Umbreon was running alongside him, as Jude had no time to return her to her Pokéball. He was so caught up with teaching his Umbreon Feint Attack, an attack that never misses, that when he bothered to check the time, it was less than 20 minutes before he had to dress to go on stage. Thankfully, he had Enhanced Speed so he was confident he would get there in time, but he would also need a few minutes to catch his breath before he got dressed.

'Oh man, I'm screwed.' He thought. Suddenly, a black blur charged towards him, and he instinctively jumped, but the black blur was aiming for his Umbreon. Jude stopped, and frowned, as he realized that the black blur was another Umbreon. It was hugging his Umbreon in an affectionate way.

"**Where have you been all my life?" **The Umbreon asked, nuzzling Jude's Umbreon.

"**What's with you?" **Jude's Umbreon kept her distance from him.

"I'm so sorry!" A woman's voice said. "That's my Umbreon!"

Jude looked up to see a woman with long silvery blue hair that reached to her waist and matching eyes. She was wearing a yellow crop top that showed off her stomach with black lining at the top, and white pants.

"Umbreon, return!" Jude decided to spare his Umbreon the need to attack Karen's Umbreon.

"Sorry about this. It looks like my Umbreon had an attraction with your Umbreon." Karen smiled apologetically.

Jude held back the urge to sneer at her. It's those smiles that made boys fall for them in an instant and do their bidding, he was sure of it. It reminded him of his biggest mistake- getting in a relationship with a pretty girl (though now he thought his Leader was the prettiest girl in the entire region, a sentiment which every guy in the region, including the current male regional guests probably agreed to), only to be dumped for a handsome Ace trainer from a rich family. Back then, he was just an ordinary trainer on his journey, working for a Modelling Agency alongside Elesa, the Gym Leader of Nimbasa Gym. But that episode left him thinking beauty is only skin deep, and a girl's beauty just hides her true intentions.

Now he's PAL's Top Model, owner of Vivlía Café (used to be called Poké-Reading, but since they installed the café, they had changed the name, Phillip, who was fluent in many languages, suggested to put Vivlía Café, since vivlía means book in Greek.), a popular socialite, a legendary S-Class Connoisseur, and member of the PAL Elite, which meant he had power over the PAL region, even if it isn't as much as the Champion or the Leader.

He was supposed to be the second member, due to the fact that when Rosaline applied to be a member (much to Pakura's chagrin, since Rosaline had been following her around in her travels.), she lost all her Pokémon to Jude, and Jude only lost two. However, Pakura allowed her to be the second member because that way, challengers would be caught off guard at her complete disadvantage against Jude. It worked very well when Jude wasn't in the Plateau for the Elite challenge and Rosaline had to fight first instead, and no one got past her. The only person that this line-up didn't work on was Ash.

He put on a bright smile, and said, "No worries, Karen. But I'm in a hurry now, so I don't have time to talk. Later." This part was actually true. Inwardly he thought, 'I hope I don't have to talk to you again.' With that, he rushed off without another word towards Chez Paolo, where he was supposed to go to prepare for his modelling show.

"You're late." Paolo, his personal designer and clothes maker, said in disapproval.

"Sorry. I was so caught up with my training for the tournament, I didn't bother to check the time." Jude meant to sound hostile, but his voice catches at the end of the sentence.

Paolo scowled at him, before he relented. "Alright, never mind." He led Jude to a little room with velvet couches and all the magazines. PAL had all the magazines in the Pokémon world available, and the PAL Elites themselves do read those magazines as well. "Just sit down, and let me do the work."

Jude shrugged, and sat down, where he was served a glass of lemonade as well. He started to read an old copy of the PokéChic. He zoned out, thinking of the time where his ex-girlfriend asked to get back together with him. It was a few days before they had left for the Pokémon World Championship.

_Ash, Pakura, Rosaline and Phillip were in the living room, watching TV (Jude was changing due to the fact that his shirt got stained while eating ice cream), when the doorbell rang. The four of them jumped up, not expecting any challengers at this time. _

"_Who could it be at this time?" Phillip wondered._

_Pakura shrugged, and silently got up to open the door. At the door was a girl around Jude's age. She had long strawberry blonde hair with deep blue eyes, and had a petite figure. She was rather pretty looking. She was wearing slutty clothing that showed off her pierced navel. She was also clutching to the latest issue of Pokémon Affairs, where the main article featured the current Elite Four and the Champion, and what else they are famous for besides being Elites. _

_Pakura was staring incredulously at the girl. She was definitely not dressed to battle, so what was she doing here? She stared at the girl for a full minute, before the girl said, "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" _

_Before Pakura could say anything, she just barged in, pushing Pakura to the ground. Pakura landed on her butt. _

_Jude came out in time to see the girl shove Pakura to the ground. His expression twisted into a look of disgust as he recognized the girl to be his ex-girlfriend, the one who cruelly dumped him for an Ace trainer from a rich family, saying he wasn't good enough for her. _

"_How dare you show up at our place?" Jude shouted. "And you even shoved our Leader down!" He pointed to Pakura, who was being helped up by Phillip and Rosaline._

"_Jude, you ungrateful bastard!" The girl yelled back. "I came all the way here for you, and the least you could do is thank me! And why didn't you tell me about your status?" She waved the magazine. "I'm your girlfriend!" _

"_You stopped being it the moment you dumped me for an Ace trainer from a rich family, Cafard. You said I was not good enough for you, so why bother coming back?" Jude sneered. _

"_Come on, you know it's Lacey!" The girl replied, pouting. _

_Ash looked on, apparently in shock, while the other three had solemn looks on their faces, since they heard the story from Jude before. _

"_I'm really sorry, I realized my mistake, Jude." Lacey widened her eyes to give the innocent effect look; however, none of them were buying the poor-little-me act. _

"_Right….it took you 9 years to realize that?" Jude asked sarcastically. _

"_Go home, Jude doesn't want you." Phillip said firmly. There was a hint of anger in his voice. Contrary to popular belief, Phillip isn't unassertive. Not when he doesn't want to be. _

"_Yeah, so get lost and go prey on another man." Rosaline added. _

"_I think he's now too good for you." Ash said mockingly. _

"…" _Pakura stayed silent, but she was glaring at her in disdain. _

"_No, I vowed to come back to him, and I even broke up with Josh so I could have him!" Lacey protested. _

"_Too bad he doesn't want you." Phillip laughed, but not in a nice way. _

"…" _Pakura remained quiet, watching the scene with calculating eyes. _

"_Hey, what are you, mute?" Lacey sneered. "Say something, retard!" She then found herself pinned to the wall with an unseen force. _

"_Don't talk to our Leader like that!" Ash snarled, his hand outstretched, apparently using telekinesis to pin her. _

_Jude strode over to her, and grasped her throat. She gasped for air, her mouth opening and closing like a Magikarp. _

"_Listen here, and listen good, you bitch. Get out of here, and never darken our doorstep again, for I don't want you anymore. You're just a promiscuous whore I had the misfortune to meet. I think my life is much better without you, seeing as I have a great living space, fun friends, and many girls vie for my attention. You'll be the last person I chose among them." That was when Ash released his telekinesis, and Jude flung her out of the door, before slamming it in her face. There was pounding on the door, and her shouts, demanding them to open the door. _

"_Paku, please silence her." Ash ordered. _

"_Yes, Ash." Pakura bowed, before taking out her gun, aiming at the girl's head through the window, and shot. The bullet went through her brain, which killed her instantly. Ash also told her to get rid of the body by any means necessary and she silent bowed, before leaving to do her task. _

"_Well, at least there's peace and quiet." Jude mumbled, not bothered that Pakura had killed her. _

"Jude? Jude!" Paolo shouted. Jude jumped up, dropping the magazine.

"What is it, Paolo?" Jude asked, irritated at the fact that his thoughts were interrupted.

"I'm done with your hair. You can go and get the clothes at the dressing room located backstage." Paolo informed him.

"Ok, thanks." Jude stood up, and left the styling room, and headed to his dressing room.

* * *

"I'm psyched! Jude's modelling shows are one of the most glamorous events in PAL!" Rosaline said excitedly. She was sitting with her fellow Elites, Cynthia and Grimsley at the front row.

"Yeah, it'll be even better with Elesa. I've seen her fashion show before, it was superb!" Ash replied. He was petting his Pikachu, who was on his shoulder once more, and he allowed Lucario to sit on his lap.

"By the way, are the clothes designed by you, Aquamarine?" Cynthia asked Pakura's personal stylist and clothes designer.

"I only designed Elesa's. Jude's were designed by Paolo." Aquamarine replied. "Princess Pakura, aren't you excited?"

"…" Pakura shot Aquamarine a funny look, as if to say "Are you kidding me?"

"**I wonder what kind of clothes Aquamarine designed for Elesa." **Pikachu said.

"**If Pakura's clothing was any indication, I think we'll see something wonderful." **Lucario replied.

"I wonder where Paul, Gary and Tracey are. They said they'd meet me here." Ash wondered.

"Right here." A voice said from behind. Ash jumped, and turned, only to see the three of them smiling at him. Tracey already had his sketchbook, ready to draw whatever he sees on stage. He had a mini torchlight attached at his sketchbook so that he could see, and not disturb the other audience. During the four years, he gotten to draw people and the scenery, not just Pokémon.

"Hey, guys." Ash grinned. "By the way Paul, nice work on humiliating them on live TV the other day."

Paul laughed. "It wasn't very difficult. So, did you do anything interesting today?"

Ash laughed. "Sure did. I got Misty arrested, and I have the video with me."

"Show us, show us!" Gary said eagerly.

Ash obliged and showed them the video via his CommuniDex. When the video finished playing, the three of them were in peals of laughter.

"That's the funniest thing I've ever seen!" Gary exclaimed, not bothering to hide his laughter. Paul and Tracey were laughing too hard to form any words.

"Shh, guys, the show is about to start!" Cynthia said. They covered their mouths to muffle their laughter.

"Welcome to PAL's Modelling Show of the Year!" The announcer stepped up. "We have PAL Elite and the Leader of Nimbasa Gym, both who are charismatic models as well, presenting the latest fashions of the PAL region! Please welcome Jude and Elesa!"

The curtain opened to reveal Jude wearing a light purple shirt with a red tie patterned with white hearts along with a dark purple jacket, and his pants matched the colour of the jacket. He was wearing black dress shoe as well.

"Oh My God, he looks like such a heartbreaker!" Cynthia commented, as Jude strutted down the runway, the spotlight following him, and some of his fans were taking pictures. The girls were screaming as they saw Jude in the latest fashion. When he finally got back to the curtain, Elesa came out. She was wearing a black strapless sparkly dress with a gold waistband around the middle, with matching bracelets, necklaces and shoes. Ash noted that she looked different from when he last saw her; her hair is longer and is now black in colour, and pleated in a weird pattern that resembled diamonds.

Some, like Phillip, were admiring Elesa's beauty; others, like Rosaline, were nudging Pakura and saying, "Hey, you're the prettiest girl in the region. Why aren't you on that stage?" which earned them a glare from Pakura.

As Elesa entered back, Jude came out, this time in a different outfit. He was wearing a white shirt, along with a dark pink jacket and a black bow tied near his neck. This time, he was wearing black pants and dark pink shoes. He also had a gold watch on his left wrist. After Jude went back to backstage, Elesa then came out in a red dress with a gold waistband and a gold ribbon tied at the side of her waist, with a gold necklace, red high heels, and a diamond ring on her finger.

Jude then came out, wearing a simple dark teal buttoned-up shirt along with blue jeans and brown shoes. The jeans gave them a perfect view of his butt when he turned to go back to the backstage, which made some girls swoon at his sexiness. Elesa entered with a beige top, along with a red skirt and black leggings, with red shoes. She was also wearing a pink bracelet.

"This is amazing." Ash commented, as he watched Jude come out, this time in a black shirt with a grey and white short jacket, along with black pants and red shoes, while Elesa was wearing a sweetheart smocked pink dress along with flower patterned flats and emerald bracelets, with a pink hart shaped necklace.

"Why are most of Elesa's clothing dresses and skirts?" Rosaline asked Aquamarine, as Jude came out for the tenth time wearing a white buttoned-up shirt with a red tie, along with a red vest, which is complete with a white jacket. He was also wearing matching white pants, while Elesa came out in a turquoise dress with white flowers attached at the sash, with a pearl necklace, bracelet with orange flowers and peach coloured shoes.

"Well, I'm a dress designer, what do you expect?" Aquamarine replied.

"I think they are going to show five more outfits for the both of them." Ash said, as Jude entered the spotlight wearing a casual long sleeved shirt that is dark blue in the middle but cream coloured at the long sleeves, along with jeans. Elesa was wearing a light blue dress with two layered laced hem with grey boots. She was wearing a green choker, and a blue bracelet as well.

"I think those outfits look great on them, and they should wear it." Cynthia remarked. "Do you think they would let them keep those outfits?"

"Definitely. PAL's Modelling Agency lets their models keep the clothes that they modelled." Ash replied. "Although, for some reason they send me and Paku clothes too."

"Well, they expect you to keep to the latest fashion, considering both of you are the Prince and Princess of PAL." Phillip piped up.

"Ok…" Ash trailed off.

Jude then walked on, apparently in beach wear, as he was wearing a black singlet and orange pants complete with sunglasses and slippers. Elesa was in a sunset orange dress with flip-flops and a large yellow hat on her head.

Ash smiled to himself. Thanks to living with Jude, he got the fashion thing. He really did. He knew how he look on the outside is a reflection of how he feel about himself on the inside. If he let himself go- not washing his hair, wearing the same clothes he slept in all day or clothes that don't fit or are out of style- that gives a message saying, "I do not care about myself. And you shouldn't care about me either". According to Jude, everyone has to make an effort because that says to others that they are worth getting to know. The clothes doesn't have to be expensive, what matters is that they look good in it.

Ash heard the audience cheering, and realized it was the last outfit. He looked up, and saw that Jude and Elesa were onstage posing. Jude was wearing a black shirt which he tucked in his beige coloured pants, along with black shoes and a white watch, while Elesa was wearing a golden gown that sparkled in the stage lights, along with matching shoes. She was wearing a black choker with a diamond tear drop dangling from it.

"**It's beautiful…"** Pikachu admired the pair.

Ash smiled. "Yeah. They are."

* * *

The group met up with Jude in his dressing room, where he was dressed in a black shirt and dark blue jeans. He was carrying a bag containing all the clothing he modelled during the show.

"Hey, guys!" Jude smiled sunnily at them, as Elesa entered his dressing room from behind. "I would like you to meet Elesa. She was my colleague when we worked at Unova's Modelling Agency. Elesa, please meet my Elites, Rosaline, Phillip, Pakura and Red. Cynthia here is Red's girlfriend, while Grimsley here is Rosaline's boyfriend. And Paul, Gary and Tracey are friends of Champion Red." Jude introduced all of them.

Although Ash had met Elesa before, he smiled and shook hands with her, saying it's nice to meet her, as if it was the first time they met, since she doesn't know his secret.

"Wow, she's beautiful!" Elesa exclaimed when Jude introduced his Leader.

Cynthia chuckled when Elesa admired her beauty, since she knew Pakura was renowned as the most beautiful girl in PAL, and the other Elites had told her that the beauty wasn't superficial, since she never wore makeup. It also didn't hurt she had a figure most girls would kill to have which had caught her good deal of attention from the male regional guests and jealousy from the female regional guests. Cynthia privately wondered if that was the reason why Pakura always wore an aloof expression on her face.

Jude laughed. "Yeah, she gets that all the time from people actually, don't you, Princess?"

Pakura shot him an "I'll get you for this" look.

"Hey, Ash, do you want to get some dinner with us at the Plaza?" Paul asked.

Ash nodded. "Sure, why not? Coming, Cynthia?" Ash asked his girlfriend, who nodded.

He turned to the group. "See you guys late, I'm going with my friends now." With that, he left with his friends and girlfriend.

* * *

"Someone left a note in your penthouse?" Paul asked incredulously, spearing a piece of steak from the plate. They were at the Plaza's high class restaurant, where they had served courses for tonight's dinner. Most of them were meat, and one was fish. Ash decided to mention this halfway through dinner.

Ash nodded. "Along with a flower. According to Paku, the petunia meant Anger and Resentment, but can also mean that the recipient's presence soothes the sender's."

"What did the note say?" Gary enquired.

"The saddest people smile the brightest." Cynthia quoted the note word by word.

"Has it occurred to you that the flower is referring to the feelings that he or she had towards the person the note was referring to?" Paul asked, as he absent-mindedly watched Pikachu and Lucario eating their dinner the hotel provided for them. "If not, why else would they send the note along with a flower?"

Ash paused in his eating. Wait, so putting together what Lucario thought it means, that means that the sender may have resented the person who caused those mysteries.

"That's it! Thanks, Paul!" Ash said gratefully.

"Anything to help." Paul shrugged.

Another thought struck Ash. Wait, what if the sender was the person who caused all these mysteries? That means they have a killer inside the Tower! Ash opened his mouth to say something, when he glowed, and the next thing he knew, he disappeared from the Plaza.

He landed with a thud on the ground, and looked around. He realized he was in the Hall of Origins. Arceus must have summoned him.

"_Hello, Chosen One." _Arceus greeted him.

"Hello, Arceus." Ash bowed to him. "How may I help you today?"

"_I've been watching you, and I know for one you got quite a few clues to who it is, right?" _

Ash nodded.

"_I'll tell you a few things, to help you. I've realized that the person causing these mysteries has a very powerful aura and this person is a genius at hand-to-hand and weapon combat as well, which makes this person a very formidable opponent and would be very hard to take down. This person, like you, has a lot of abilities, and I'm afraid if this person goes full power, they may be able to defeat even you. So be careful of this person."_

Ash frowned. So he was up against an unknown powerful opponent?

"_I'll leave it up to you to pass the Judgement to this culprit should you catch them." Arceus explained. _

"Thank you, but why?" Ash wondered.

"_I sense extreme depression in this person's heart. This person went through an extremely tragic past, and lost the only thing that was dear to them. They are also forced to sacrifice their own happiness to protect those that they used to love." _Arceus would tell Ash who it was, but as the Chosen One and PAL's Champion and Prince, he believed Ash could figure this out himself.

"Used to love?" Ash repeated.

_Arceus sighed. "As time passed, they grew to hate them."_

"I see…." Ash trailed off.

"_This person has something in common with you: Like you, they were left alone, forsaken by the ones they love, and sought revenge against those that caused them pain. Unlike you, however, this person had been alone from the very beginning, and only gained someone they care for much later, only for this someone to leave them alone once more, but this someone they love didn't leave them of their own accord." _

'If it isn't of their own accord, it's either that the one they love was forced to leave them, or had died.' Ash thought, before asking, "Can you give me a hint?"

Arceus smiled. _"Sure. This person was a renowned type specialist. I'll also tell you that you're currently on the right track in your thoughts on who the culprit is._ _I think you better go back to your dinner with your friends. Good luck, Chosen One." _

Ash then glowed blue, before disappearing.

Arceus looked at the PAL Prophecy thoughtfully. It was made by Rosaline Pyra sometime before the tournament had started, but only one person had heard the prophecy, and that was Pakura (only she was present when Rosaline got into a trance and recited the prophecy). While everyone knew that this ability usually appears in written form, Arceus (and Pakura) knew that Rosaline's fortune telling ability can also appear verbally. Rosaline would have no memory of what she said during the trance.

'Aura is like any other skill, in that there are those who will learn it faster than others. Some are able to discover and learn to manipulate their aura on their own without having formally learned it. These individuals are typically known as "geniuses". These people usually have a unique aura ability that can be used without really understanding how or why one is able to do so.' Arceus thought. 'Of course, Rosaline, being born with this ability, can be considered a genius, alongside the Chosen One and the PAL's Princess. But if only she had tried to practice this ability, instead of waiting for danger so that it would appear, she might be able to use it at will.'

Ash then reappeared at his seat back at the Plaza, surprising Gary, Paul, Cynthia, Tracey and his Pikachu and Lucario.

"Where were you?" Gary demanded. "We couldn't find you when they served dessert." He pointed to the dessert, which was a big tower of chocolate.

"Yeah, one minute, we were talking, and the next, you disappeared to Arceus-knows-where!" Paul exclaimed.

Ash rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well, Arceus teleported me to his realm, and gave me a few hints on the person causing the mysteries, that's all."

His friends and Cynthia suddenly looked way interested.

"Oh?" Paul said in a totally different tone of voice he normally uses- the same tone of voice he used when someone mentioned a battle strategy he thought he could use the next time he battled someone. "So what did Arceus say?"

Before Ash could open his mouth, there was suddenly an announcement on TV located at the wall next to them. The other customers also stopped eating and looked at the TV nearest to them.

The news reporter was sitting at the desk, declaring that instead of entering the battlefield from the side, the Top 128 participants are to use the two doors at the side of the lobby to get down to the two Launch Rooms (since there are two sides to the battlefield), where there would be a platform to launch them in the battlefield. To prevent opponents from going to the same Launch Room, when one enters a door, the light above the door would light up, indicating it's occupied so that the other would know which Launch Room his or her opponent would be using.

Behind her, there was also a diagram on how to get to the Launch Room. She also announced that the Top 128 match-ups are also out, and it would be a three-on-three battle. The screen took over with the 64 match-ups for tomorrow. Much to Ash's glee, he was up against Trip. Pakura is up against Drayden (Ash inwardly winced for Drayden), Phillip against Flint, Rosaline against Burgundy, Jude against Elesa, Cynthia against Iris (much to Ash's disappointment, but he was sure he'll find a way to crush her in battle), Gary against Maylene, and finally, Paul against Cress.

After the announcement, they turned their attention back to Ash. "Well?" Cynthia asked.

Without further ado, Ash started talking.

* * *

Phillip choked on the first bite of the chocolate cake he had ordered at Jude's café when he saw who he was up against at the TV located in front of him. He turned to Emolga, who was enjoying some cake herself.

"Do you think I'll win?" Phillip asked uncertainly. "He does have the advantage."

"**Don't be ridiculous, Phillip." **Emolga replied. **"You aren't the third member of the Elite for nothing you know. Removing Pakura, you'd be the strongest Elite member." **

"Yeah, I guess so." Phillip smiled at Emolga, as he took a sip of the mango smoothie.

"**Speaking of which, I noticed that the traitors are without Misty today. I wonder why."**

"I think the Champion or the Leader might have gotten her arrested for breaking into their penthouse." Phillip nodded knowingly. "Serves them right. May was probably bitching about how Ash poached Manaphy and tried to take it back. I'll eat my shirt if May wasn't one of the ones who broke into the penthouse. Makes me wonder why she's the Princess of Hoenn."

"**Aren't you originally from Hoenn, Phillip?" **Emolga asked.

"Yes. My hometown is actually in Mauville City." Phillip replied. "I'm ashamed to be in the same region as May and Max."

"They're all gone?" A voice said in shock. Phillip and Emolga turned to see Jasmine talking to the café employee.

"I'm terribly sorry." The employee replied. "The chocolate cake was a famous special."

"What a tragedy. I came all the way here because I hoped to have a taste of the cake, since Whitney said it was exceptionally delicious, but…." Jasmine sighed.

"It's her." Phillip commented to Emolga. He looked at the disappointed expression on Jasmine's face, and his slice of cake, which he only took one tiny bite.

"I-If it's fine with you, we can share the cake." Phillip offered, loud enough for Jasmine to hear.

Jasmine turned to him, smiling. "Really?"

Phillip gulped when he saw the smile. "Yeah…"

Jasmine sat down across from him, as Phillip used his fork to cut his cake into two slices, and offered one to Jasmine.

"Thanks, Phillip." Jasmine gave him another big smile.

Phillip felt kind of bad when he saw Jasmine smile like that, when a few days ago, he gave a startled shout, and ran away from her when he realized she was watching him invent his stuff all along. Also, when she smiled at him before the battle, he pulled a Pakura and refused to even look at her.

Jasmine took a bite of the cake. Her eyes lit up. "It's as delicious as Whitney had said!" she exclaimed.

"Er….glad you liked it…" Phillip said, before trailing off, feeling awkward. He prayed that Jasmine would just eat her cake and go. Instead, however, she started making small talk.

"So, who are you going against for tomorrow's battle?" Jasmine asked. "I'm up against Brycen."

"Huh? Uh…Flint." Phillip replied.

"The Fire type Sinnoh Elite?"

"That's right."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll do great, as the third member of the Elite."

"Er….thank you…and uh….I'm sorry for running out on you the other day, I'm not used to people watching me work. Everyone thinks it's boring…." He fell silent.

"No worries, Phillip. I know how you can make up to me, though."

Phillip shot her a wary look, but said, "Ok, but no embarrassing stuff. I'm not giving you any blackmail stuff."

"Take me somewhere other than the Tower for dinner tomorrow, and show up alone." Jasmine thought she played her cards well, and she thought Phillip was an interesting guy, and wanted to get to know him better one-on-one.

"Alone?" Philip was incredulous. "O-Ok." He realized that he was on his last bite of cake, and hastily gulped down the cake.

He grabbed his Emolga. "Well, I got to go…train, so see you!" With that, he rushed off.

"What does she want with me?" Phillip wondered, as he left go of Emolga, and she floated beside him.

"**That was a cute interaction." **Emolga was making smooching noises.

"Emolga, that's disgusting. And after seeing Jude's ex-girlfriend Lacey, I don't think I want a girlfriend. What if Jasmine ends up being the same as her?" Phillip held back a shudder.

"**Come on, I'm sure she isn't like that."** Emolga said soothingly.

"I'm sure Jude thought of the same thing when he asked Lacey out." Phillip muttered. "I'll just get this dinner over and done with tomorrow, and try not to hurt her feelings while keeping my distance."

* * *

"Mamoswine and Quilava are unable to battle. Lapras wins. Therefore, the winner is Princess Pakura." Wallace announced.

'Where's your confidence when you said you'll defeat me and be crowned PAL's Princess?' Pakura thought, impassively watching Dawn kneel towards her badly injured Mamoswine and Quilava. Her Lapras looked like she had hardly battled at all. Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee were smirking at the scene.

Pakura had decided to make Dawn pay for her Pokégear, and when Dawn refused to pay, she challenged Dawn to a handicap battle, saying that if Dawn won, she wouldn't have to pay for her Pokégear and let her be PAL's Princess. If Dawn lost, Dawn would have to pay double the amount of the price of her Pokégear. Wallace happened to walk by and offered to be the referee. Dawn accepted, thinking she'll win and be the new princess, but Pakura had defeated her in one minute flat.

"You lost. Pay up." Pakura said, holding her hand out.

"No way!" Dawn said stubbornly. "You cheated, you biased judge!" With that, she returned her Pokémon, and stormed off.

"…" Pakura simply watched her leave, and made no move to stop her.

"Are you going to let her go just like that?" Wallace asked.

Pakura shrugged.

"Well, I'm not." With that, Wallace headed towards the Plaza Hotel. Pakura followed him after she returned her Lapras, wondering what his plan was.

"Excuse me, do you know what room Johanna Berlitz resides in?" Wallace asked the receptionist.

The receptionist was about to ask why he wanted her room number, but saw Pakura behind him, and assumed he was asking the question for her. The receptionist looked at the computer situated next to her, and searched for Johanna Berlitz in the check-in list.

"It's 1025." The lady replied, smiling. "The first two numbers of the hotel room indicates the floor."

"Thank you." Wallace said politely, as they went to the elevator, and both of them headed to the 10th floor.

Both of them walked down the corridor to the room where Johanna Berlitz resides. Wallace then knocked on the door. The door opened to reveal a blue haired woman with matching eyes. It was Johanna Berlitz, who used to be a great Pokémon Coordinator, having won a Ribbon Cup from the Grand Festival and earning the title of Top Coordinator, before deciding to settle down and start a family.

Johanna was surprised when she saw Wallace, the Champion of Hoenn and Coordinating Master. She was even more surprised when she saw Pakura Ameyuri, the one that she heard everyone admires, and was the most beautiful girl in the region. She couldn't oppose this fact, now that she saw her up close.

"Hello, Wallace, Princess Pakura. How can I help you today?" Johanna smiled at the two of them. While Wallace smiled back, Pakura's face remained expressionless.

"Hello Johanna. May we come in?" Wallace asked.

"Sure, do come in." As they sat down on the chairs, Johanna busied herself making tea for her guests. She returned carrying a tray with a china tea set, and placed it on the table between the chairs. It held a china teapot and cups, cream and sugar, and a plate of cookies. Wallace reached out his hand to take a cookie, while Pakura sipped some tea.

"So, what do I owe this pleasure of your company?" Johanna asked.

"…" Pakura didn't answer, but Wallace did.

"Johanna, you're Dawn Berlitz's mother, am I right?" Wallace enquired.

Johanna nodded, wondering where this was going.

"Your daughter Dawn took Pakura's Pokégear and smashed it to pieces yesterday morning. I was a witness there, and I saw her do it deliberately. She did it because she thought Pakura was biased on her judging during the PAL Contest, when both Fantina and I felt she didn't deserve her place when she did her Appeal."

"She what?" Johanna shouted.

"I know it's a shock, Johanna, but when Pakura told her to pay up, she refused, and Pakura here challenged her to a handicap battle where if Dawn won she wouldn't need to pay and she'd let Dawn be PAL's Princess, and if Dawn lost she'll have to pay double the Pokégear's price. Dawn lost, despite using two Pokémon against Pakura's Lapras, and when Pakura told her to pay up, she refused, saying Pakura cheated, and calling her a biased judge." Wallace recounted the events.

"Is it true?" Johanna turned to Pakura, but Pakura kept quiet, not bothering to answer. Her Skitty and Eevee, however, nodded.

"I got it. So, what can I do to make up for the Pokégear for my daughter?"

Pakura silently wrote something, and handed it to Johanna. When Johanna read it, she realized Pakura is fining her 100,000 Pokédollars, and wanted them to go home, or at least send Dawn home, since Dawn is out of the Contest and the tournament, so she had no reason to stay here anyway.

"I'll bring Dawn home right after this talk. That little girl has no right to be so defiant, especially towards the Princess of PAL, who rules this region." Johanna informed them. "And I will pass the money to the Battle Tower receptionist so she can deliver it to you, would that be fine?"

"Fine by me." said Wallace. Pakura shrugged, indicating Johanna can do whatever she wanted, and both stood up after finishing the last of the cookies and tea.

"Thanks for the tea, it was lovely." Wallace said. Pakura nodded her agreement, and both of them left.

* * *

Ash and Cynthia were leaving the Plaza together after having dinner with their friends.

"That was an amazing dinner, the Plaza sure served up some nice food." Cynthia commented.

"Quality wise, the hotel food is very slightly lower than the food served back at the Tower, but it's great having dinner with friends. Arceus knows how busy I have been during the tournament." He sighed when he thought of the fact that he had to cover the story on the break-in incident at their penthouse, where he was one of the two main witnesses. Pikachu was petting his head in comfort, while Lucario shot him a sympathetic look.

Ash squinted his eyes, as they approached the Pokémon Center. He could see Johanna Berlitz dragging Dawn towards a car, where it had been loaded with Dawn's suitcases. Her friends were following behind them. If he strained his ears, he could hear Max pleading for Johanna to let Dawn stay in PAL, but Johanna replied sternly that Dawn has no reason to stay now that she is out of both the Contest and the battle tournament, and she had caused enough trouble, and thus Johanna is taking her home, where she'll be grounded indefinitely.

"I think something's happening. Let's go." With that, Ash grabbed Cynthia's wrist sprinting off, dragging her behind him.

"Wait, Ash what's going on?" She shouted, but Ash motioned her to be quiet. He pressed on her head, forcing her to crouch, which allowed her to hide behind the bushes.

"Look there." Ash whispered, pointing to the traitors.

"Is that Dawn's mother trying to bring Dawn home?" Cynthia asked in amusement.

"Yup. I'm so going to record this for them to see." With that, he activated his CommuniDex, and pointed his camera at the traitors.

"Please mum, my friends are still in the tournament, I want to support them!" Dawn tried to resist her mother, but Johanna was physically stronger than Dawn is.

"You can save it for when we get home, Dawn." Johanna replied angrily. "I did not raise you to break Princess Pakura's Pokégear on purpose.

Dawn was starting to look defensive. "This again mum? I'm telling you, she's bia-"

SLAP!

Johanna slapped her daughter, the same cheek where Wallace hit her the other day.

Trip and Brock went to help her up, but Johanna glared at them. She then directed her glare at Dawn.

"Don't you dare talk back to me, young lady!" Johanna hissed. "I talked to Princess Pakura today, and I think she's merciful to not just throw you into jail, with the power she had in the PAL region. I don't think even the Sinnoh government can save you if she did decide to throw you into jail, because PAL supports the other five regions, and technically, she has power over the other regional governments!" She none too gently picked Dawn up, and pushed her into the car, slamming the door behind her.

"Please, couldn't you reconsider? We want to spend time with our friend!" Iris said.

"No, and she would be forbidden to contact any of you, because I think you're bad influence on her, and don't you dare try to contact her. She would stay at home and reflect on her behaviour." She stormed into the backseat, and presumably commanded the driver to drive. Dawn was banging on the window, tears running down her face, as her friends reluctantly waved goodbye to her.

"Those PAL Elites had gone way too far!" May shouted. "First, Misty was thrown into jail, now Dawn was sent home early."

"We have to plan a counterattack somehow." Trip nodded. "Those Elites think they're high and mighty just because they rule over this region. I'm not going to stand there and take their rules. We have to overcome the barbarism of those Elites."

'Barbarism? That's ironic, coming from someone who led my friends into turning against me.' Ash thought. 'I wonder if I should emotionally shatter Max or Trip next, since I plan to take them down one by one anyway.'

One of his Pokéballs shook. Ash looked down to see it was Jirachi's Pokéball.

"_Hey, Ash, if you want to take Max down, please use me." _Jirachi spoke.

'Sure.' Ash said through telepathy.

"**Ash, they're gone." **Pikachu said. Ash looked up, and sure enough, the traitors were leaving the scene.

"Alright, let's get back." Ash got up, and held out a hand to Cynthia. She accepted his help to get her to standing position.

"**What are you going to do about them?"** Lucario asked, as Ash stabbed the elevator button, and waited for the elevator to come down.

Ash laughed, sort of sarcastically. "I initially wanted to leave them alone, as I don't care what they do to me. But after the break-in incident, I have half a mind to go to them and turn them into Cream of Wheat. I bet the world would be a better place if someone had just turned them into Cream of Wheat. What do you think, Cynthia?"

"I think you shouldn't do that, and harming them emotionally may be better, since that's what they did to you and you can do it without spilling blood too." Cynthia smiled knowingly.

That distracted Ash, and he stared at her in shock for nearly five seconds. Then he said, "That sounds like a completely excellent idea. While I won't strike until they do, I can't say the same for my Elites."

Just then, the elevator doors opened in front of them, and they entered, and pressed the buttons to their floor. The elevator stopped to deposit Cynthia, who gave Ash a goodnight kiss, before he was alone with Pikachu and Lucario, and he found the doors opening on the twelfth floor. Since it was rather late, the sitting room was empty, except for Pakura, who was typing away in her laptop. She looked up from whatever she was doing in her laptop when she heard the elevator, and gestured to Ash to come to her. He did, and to his surprise, Pakura was writing the story of the break-in incident.

"But Paku, I was supposed to write it!" Ash protested, pointing to the laptop screen.

"The sooner we send this, the better." Pakura replied. "Besides, what kind of Leader would I be if I can't cover for you when you're busy? Anyway, is there anything you would like to add?" She turned her laptop towards him, and he begun typing.

Ash he typed, Pakura informed him that she got his traded Pokémon, and pointed to the box containing various Pokéballs, and said he could start training them anytime. Ash nodded, as he finished adding his part of the story, before Pakura took the laptop to connect to the printer, and printed the report. Ash also handed her the thumb drive, where she downloaded the footage from the surveillance cameras into the thumb drive as well. She then left the penthouse, presumably to hand the things over to the News Agency.

Ash then decided to head back to his room, as he took the box of Pokémon Pakura traded for him.

"It's been a long day. I better rest after our shower, we got lots of training to after our battle. Just take a rest, you two." Ash said, placing the box down and heading to the showers, while his Pokémon settled down to sleep. After his shower, he grabbed pyjamas from the closet, dressed in them, and he settled down on his bed, before going to sleep.

* * *

_Ash found himself back at the PAL Plateau's sitting room. But the difference was there were less decorations, the TV was slightly smaller, and the couch was made of leather instead of velvet. Ash knew he was back in time, as they didn't change the couch until a few months after Ash became Champion, and some decorations weren't added until he became Champion._

"_I can't believe your family would do this to you!" An outraged voice said. Ash recognized Jude's voice, and turned to the balcony, where he thought the voice came from. Sure enough, a younger Jude, probably around 20, was sitting at one of the balcony chairs with another person. Ash approached to see who the person was, but the person, like the girl, was a silhouette. _

"_They did alright." A girl's voice said. Her voice sounded distorted, like from a broken radio. _

"_Didn't any of your family love you?" Jude asked. _

_Ash watched the girl shake her head, and Jude's face was of pure anger. _

"_Well, I never! Thank goodness they're dead!" Jude spat. _

"_Are you that angry?" The girl asked, surprised._

"_Well, yes! Just because you're born from a one-night stand does not mean you're useless, you know. How could they just throw you aside?" Jude asked incredulously. _

"_It's nice you're angry for me, Jude. Nobody was angry for me before." The girl said almost dreamily. "I never knew what it was like to have a family that loves you, and I had two brothers, but they didn't love me either." _

"_Then, I'll be your brother." Jude declared. "I'll be part of the loving family you never had."_

"_You will?" The girl sounded surprised. _

_Jude nodded, and the girl hugged him. "Big brother!" the girl called him. _

_Ash watched Jude smile, and pat her on the head. _

Ash opened his eyes, and sat up. Who was that girl that Jude said he would replace her presumably horrible family? He walked out of the sitting room yet again to clear his head, and not surprisingly, he saw Pakura once again, reading.

"I don't have to ask why you're here, do I." Ash sighed.

Pakura shrugged, probably in amusement. "So, what dream do you have this time?"

Ash sat down next to her, and told her about the conversation Jude had with a girl back in the PAL Plateau. Ash didn't notice that Pakura's expression darkened for a split second, before turning back into a neutral one.

"I see. I think you should ask Jude tomorrow during breakfast." Pakura said. "He's the best person, since he was the one in the dream."

"Yeah, you're right." Ash said. "And during dinner, Arceus got me to the Hall of Origins to give me some information on the person causing these mysteries."

Pakura raised her eyebrow. "Really? Tell me more."

Ash sat down next to her, and started talking about what Arceus told him, and the person in question being a famous type specialist.

"A famed type specialist? Could it be related to the Blackthorn dream you had?" Pakura asked. "You said the girl had the Dragon Clan's Enhanced Intelligence, which meant she was most likely born from the Clan, but the Elders might have kicked her out, if not why else would she want revenge? So she's most likely a famous Dragon Master."

"And a female one as well. So, the suspect is down to two: Clair and the Dragon Princess. Clair is unlikely because she's respectful of the Elders, more so than Lance, and so it leaves the Dragon Princess. We know she is alive, because Rosaline saw her, so I presume she's currently somewhere in this region. And assuming you're right, if the Elders had kicked her out…." Ash widened his eyes. "The Dragon Princess was once the Cursed Child Lance was talking about, and out of revenge, she killed the entire Dragon Clan! And placed Blackthorn City in an eternal blizzard! But how come only 9 escaped if she was the only culprit?"

"And also, I think the Elders' mistake was to underestimate her, since she was born a genius, she most likely made use of her gift to cut off any escape routes to make sure the others can't escape when she killed the Clan. Out of those nine, Lance and Clair weren't present, and I bet she chose to spare the other 7, or there is one place she never bothered to check. But we shouldn't tell Lance yet, unless we catch the Dragon Princess herself, and get her to confirm these facts." Pakura replied, sighing.

"Oh yeah, you're right…we can't jump to conclusions." Ash muttered. "We'll have to investigate for more clues, and if we are right, we can tell Lance of this fact."

Pakura nodded.

"Oh, and Dawn was dragged home last night by her mother. Do you know anything about it?" Ash asked.

Pakura smirked. "Yeah, tried to get Dawn to pay for my Pokégear and offered that if she won she wouldn't need to pay and she can have my Princess title. But if she lost, she'll have to pay double. She refused when she lost badly, and even called me biased, so Wallace decided to go talk to her mother about it, and her mother agreed to bring her home when I requested it, since she's nothing but trouble anyway."

"Should've known you had something to do with it." Ash mumbled.

Pakura simply shrugged. "Her fault she's too stubborn to admit defeat and pay up."

"Well, at least we have one less person to deal with." Ash nodded, before stifling a yawn.

"Get back to bed." said an undeceived Pakura.

"Goodnight, Paku." Ash stood up, as Pakura nodded, and he staggered back to bed.

* * *

At dawn, Ash laid in bed for a while, watching the sun come up on a beautiful morning. As it's closing to mid-December, he knew it's going to be winter soon. May as well enjoy the warmth of the sun while they can. Rosaline was knocking at the door, reminding Ash that today is another big day.

Ash got up and took a quick shower, being careful about the buttons he hit, and head down to the dining room. Jude and Rosaline were already at the table, while Pakura is reading _The PAL Times _at the sitting room. Ash sent out his Pokémon to join the others for breakfast. He remembered he had to ask Jude something.

"Hey Jude."

Jude turned to him, pausing from loading his plate with breakfast. "What is it, Ash?"

"You know my ability to see events from the past through dreams, right?"

"Yeah..." Jude replied. Where was this going?

"I had a dream last night about a girl telling you that her family hates her, and you told her you'd be her brother." Ash said. "Do you know who the girl is?"

Jude looked confused. "I…don't remember saying to anyone I'd be her brother."

That shocked Ash. His dreams never tell lies. But when he scanned Jude's mind for the memory, it came out blank. Did someone tamper with his memory?

"But now I think of it, I can't remember the first six months of what happened when Benzene was manager. All I remembered was Pakura became Elite member at that time, and she was rather distant with us. Phillip doesn't remember anything either."

"Actually, I can't remember much either." Rosaline admitted. "I tried to remember, but it's blank, or it seemed…fuzzy."

"Do you remember anything, Paku?" Ash called out from across the table.

'As I expected. They still can't remember.' Pakura thought, as she folded her paper all carefully and laid it down. She always folds papers carefully, making the edges all neat. Rosaline never does this. She usually crumples the pages up and leaves them, out of order, on the couch or next to the toilet. This kind of thing usually exasperates Pakura, and is probably the real reason why Pakura throws Rosaline in the dungeons more often than Jude or Phillip. Because what kind of Elite leaves things in a mess?

Pakura shook her head, indicating she can't remember anything either, only unlike the other two, she was lying.

"Morning, guys." A voice said. All of them looked up to see Cynthia and Grimsley joining them for breakfast. Cynthia took the seat next to Ash, and Grimsley sat next to Rosaline.

Ash, Jude and Rosaline greeted them back, but Pakura ignored them, as the door opened, and a sleepy Phillip joined them for breakfast.

Despite the tension Ash was feeling after he was told that the other four Elites may have their memories tampered with, he ate as much as he could, although none of the delectable food made any impression on him this time round. He might as well be eating cardboard at this point, he was that stressed and worried. After breakfast, the Elites returned their Pokémon and only retained the ones they want to use and the Pokémon they usually have outside their Pokéballs. Just as they were about to leave, one of Pakura's Pokéballs opened and Eevee appeared once again on her shoulder, and nuzzled Pakura's cheek affectionately.

"Ok…let's go." Ash said, as they entered the elevator.

* * *

Ash had to separate from the others, as he had to go to the Launch Room to get to the battlefield, since his battle with Trip was the very first one. He went down a series of staircases before finally reaching a door, and Ash knew he had reached the Launch Room. The Launch Room was a small chamber where trainers go to be launched in the battlefield. Due to the fact that the platform can only hold up to 200kg, during tag battles, the League Officials had no choice but to let participants enter through the exit during tag battles, since to put it nicely, they think some of the trainers are on the wrong end of the scale.

Ash took a tiny sips from glass of water, and sat down on a couch, waiting for the time where he'll have to step on the platform.

"**So, it's time to take that guys down, huh?" **Pikachu asked eagerly.

Ash smirked. "Yes. I know Serperior is more than ready to take on his starter. Unfortunately, Pikachu, I'll have to leave you out. I'm saving you for the Finals."

"**That's if you get to the Finals." **Lucario said.

Ash shook his head. "I definitely will. I mean, I defeated Paku, and I'm absolutely sure she can defeat the strongest regional Champion here. I hope I can face her again in the Finals, the battle with her was the most fun I ever had."

A pleasant female voice announced it was time to get to the battlefield, and Ash stepped on the platform with Pikachu on his shoulder and Lucario beside him. A glass box was lowering around them, effectively trapping them in the platform. He can hear Ken's announcement as the platform began to rise, which caused Ash to be in darkness.

"Continuing the Pokémon World Championship at the PAL Battle Arena, beginning from now would be a single battle consisting of each trainer using three Pokémon. The stadium would change randomly after every battle, and the first battlefield of Round One of the top 128 battles would take place in Grassy Terrain." said Ken. Here, the neutral battlefield went downwards, similar to how they changed the battlefield in the Sinnoh League Ash participated in years ago, and was replaced with a grass battlefield.

"And our first competitors are Champion Red and Trainer Trip!" That was when the platform pushed Ash out to the battlefield. Opposite him, Trip was also pushed out to the battlefield as well.

As soon as they were launched into the battlefield, Trip pointed at Ash. "You! How dare you send our friend home when she did nothing wrong!" Trip shouted.

Ash shook his head. Trip is trying to get Ash agitated and hopefully do something reckless so that he'll be defamed.

"She smashed Paku's Pokégear on purpose just because Paku didn't let her in on the Battle Rounds for the Contest due to her horrible Appeal. She even refused to pay Paku back, and we do not tolerate this kind of behaviour in PAL." Ash replied calmly.

"You tell him, Prince Red!" someone shouted, and everyone else cheered in favour for Ash.

"Should we start our battle?" Ash gave a fake benign smile to a furious Trip.

"I'll get you for this." Trip growled, as he sent out his Jellicent, which made Ash realize Trip's Frillish evolved.

"Emboar, lend me your aura!" He sent out the final form of Tepig.

"Are you stupid? Why are you sending out a Fire Pokémon against a Water type like my Jellicent?" Trip demanded.

"If I can stand a chance against Jude's Jellicent, I can defeat yours. After all, your Jellicent is weaker than his." Ash replied. 'I better avoid contact moves, since his Jellicent has the Ability Cursed Body.'

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Jellicent, start things of by using Shadow Ball!" Trip commanded.

Ash smirked. "Hit it back with Hammer Arm." Emboar's forearms glowed white and it hit the Shadow Ball, sending it back to Jellicent, hitting him, Jellicent managed to get up, however.

"Jellicent, attack with Hydro Pump!" Trip said.

"Flamethrower, go!" Ash pointed to Jellicent. The Hydro Pump and Flamethrower clashed, and it seemed to be a stalemate, until the Flamethrower managed to overpower the Hydro Pump, effectively hitting Jellicent again.

"Grr…Jellicent, get up and use Bubble Beam." Jellicent shot out multiple bubbles form his mouth at Emboar.

"Emboar, use Ember to disperse the bubbles!" Emboar obeyed, and dispersed the bubbles quickly.

"What's wrong Trip? Can't get an attack on my Emboar?" Ash laughed.

"I'll get you for this! Jellicent, use Double Team, and when Emboar destroys the copies, use Dark Pulse!" Jellicent made multiple copies of himself, and surrounded Emboar.

Ash sighed. Didn't Trip learn from Pakura's battle that the PAL Elites can tell which one is the real one among the copies since they can use aura to detect them, therefore making Double Team useless?

"You're making it too easy. Emboar, use Flamethrower on the one North West from where you're facing." Emboar did, and sure enough that is the real Jellicent, and as soon as he got hit, the copies disappeared.

"**Stop playing and attack already, Ash!" **Pikachu was getting bored with Trip's attempts to hit Emboar.

"Alright, alright, Pikachu. Emboar, use Sunny Day!" Ash said, and Emboar made two white orbs appear his hands, and released the two white orbs into the sky. The orbs combine as one and formed a bright sun over the battlefield, which effectively cut Water-type moves in half, and power up Fire-type moves.

"Jellicent, Hyper Beam!" Jellicent charged up a Hyper Beam, and aimed at Emboar.

"Emboar, Gyro Ball!" Light blue orbs appeared at the end of his hands, and his body was then surrounded by light blue sparkles. Emboar then spun rapidly and slammed into Jellicent, making him misfire the Hyper Beam.

Jellicent now needed to recharge for a while, and Ash took the opportunity to use Grass Knot to trip Jellicent, sending it to the ground.

"Get up and use Toxic!" Trip yelled.

"Emboar, Wild Charge." Emboar tackled Jellicent while surrounded by yellow electricity, which caused him to crash to the ground again. Jellicent got up, however, and tried to get to the side to attack

"Don't let him get away! Surround Jellicent by using Flamethrower on the battlefield!" Ash commanded, and since it was a grass battlefield, the fire spread easily, leaving Jellicent stuck in the middle.

"Finish it with Solar Beam!" Ash commanded. Emboar obeyed, and the Solar Beam hit a sending him flying thorugh the fire and crashing against the wall. He now had swirls for eyes, indicating it was knocked out. It was also burnt rather badly.

"Jellicent is unable to battle. Trainer Trip, please send out your next Pokémon!" Evan said.

"What a battle! Trainer Trip was unable to damage Red's Emboar despite being a type advantage. What would he do now?" Ken wondered, as the ruined battlefield was replaced with a new grass battlefield.

Trip then chose his Serperior as his second Pokémon.

'Knew he'd use his starter at some point.' Ash thought, sending out his own Serperior. He wanted to give his other Pokémon a chance, considering he had a lot of Pokémon at the moment, so he planned to use one Pokémon for each battle no matter what, while holding on to his intention to not lose one Pokémon to the traitors he would battle.

"**Wow, look what we have here. Thanks for sending me out, Ash." **Serperior said.

"Not a problem." Ash smiled.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Serperior, start things off with Leaf Storm!"

"You use Leaf Storm too!" Ash commanded.

The two Leaf Storms clashed and just as before, Ash's Leaf Storm overpowered Trip's, causing both Leaf Storms to hit his Serperior.

"Hurry and use Secret Power!" Since it was a grass battlefield, Ash's Serperior's body glow pink and multiple green tentacle-like energy appeared around her. Then, similar green tentacle-like energy surrounded Trip's Serperior as he got up, wrapped around him, and Trip's Serperior fell asleep.

"Serperior, wake up!" Trip yelled.

"Ran into a problem?" Ash was trying not to laugh. It looked like he never taught his Serperior how to use Sleep Talk.

"Serperior, use Giga Drain." Ash commanded. Serperior went over to the sleeping opponent and absorbed his energy, at the same time recovering hers.

However, Trip's Serperior started to wake up, and Ash hastily used Gastro Acid.

"What does Gastro Acid do? It didn't seem to do any damage or reduce any stat changes." Trip was smirking.

Ash grinned. "Your Serperior has the Ability Overgrow, right?"

Trip nodded.

"With Gastro Acid, Overgrow can't be activated. This move suppresses Abilities. In other words, your Serperior's Grass type moves won't be powered up even if he is close to fainting."

Trip's smirk faded, to be replaced by pure outrage. "You did what?" He shouted.

"Please stop shouting, I want to keep my hearing please." Ash muttered, which earned laughter from the audience.

"Serperior, use Leaf Tornado!" Trip commanded.

"Take it on with Twister!" Ash countered.

The Twister easily cut through the Leaf Tornado, and the Twister sent Trip's Serperior flying.

"Finish it off with Aerial Ace!" Ash said. As Trip's Serperior fell to the ground, Ash's Serperior hit him with a super-effective Aerial Ace, which knocked Trip's Serperior out.

"Serperior is unable to battle! Trainer Trip, please send out your final Pokémon!" Evan said.

Trip then sent out Conkeldurr as his last Pokémon.

Ash smirked, and switched out his Serperior for Gengar.

"Battle begin!"

"Conkeldurr, use Bulk Up!" Conkeldurr's body became surrounded in a crimson aura and it flexed its body, causing the muscles to thicken.

Ash shook his head. Bulk Up is not a good move when the opponent is in perfect condition to react immediately. "Gengar, use Shadow Ball!"

"Hurry dodge it!"

'Now that interrupted Bulk Up.' Ash thought. "Gengar, Dazzling Gleam!"

Gengar emitted a powerful flash of light, which damaged Conkeldurr.

Without giving Trip time to react, he said, "Now Hypnosis!"

When the light cleared, Conkeldurr was met with Gengar waving its arms in hypnotic patterns and Conkeldurr starting feeling sleepy and fell asleep, just like Serperior in the previous round.

"Wake up, Conkeldurr! You're my last hope in trashing that loser Red's Pokémon!" Trip shouted.

At those words, many people, especially the girls, shot dirty looks at Trip, and angry mutters filled the stadium.

"What's your problem?" One even asked.

"Thrash him, Red!" Another shouted.

"Now, Gengar, Dream Eater." Gengar released a shadow-like version of itself at the sleeping Conkeldurr and the shadow went through him, sucking up Conkeldurr's energy, and recovering the energy he lost from the moves Ash told him to use.

"Get up, Conkeldurr!" Trip yelled.

"No use, now use Nightmare!" Ash commanded. Conkeldurr started shivering in fear, like someone would do when they have a bad dream when sleeping.

"Please, wake up!"

Trip's voice apparently got to Conkeldurr since it started to open its eyes, and Ash coldly ordered Gengar to use Psychic, followed by Giga Impact on Conkeldurr. Gengar obeyed, and Conkeldurr was lifted into the air, and slammed to the ground, and before it could even get up, Gengar used Giga Impact on Conkeldurr. The impact of the move caused a huge explosion in the middle of the battlefield. Trip covered his eyes to prevent dust from getting into it, but Ash stood there unfazed, being used to these types of explosions.

When the smoke cleared, Conkeldurr was badly damaged, but still got up.

"Well, well, it looks like your Conkeldurr has a strong will." Ash commented. "Too bad it's not going to last long."

"What are you talking about?" Trip demanded. "I will win this battle! You're just a coward who abuses his power to put the innocents into jail just because you feel like it!"

Ash's smile curled malevolently at the edges, and the PAL Elites (except Pakura) shivered at the smile. It's the same smile Pakura would make before killing her victim.

"Really now?" Ash laughed. "You're convinced that you are right, even when the evidence is against you?"

"Well, I was right that the boy named Ash Ketchum was a loser!" Trip sneered. "I never heard of him since he lost the Unova League four years ago. Maybe he knew he was one and ran away! If I'm right about him, then I should be right about you!"

Ash laughed softly. Trip would never learn.

"Do you know why I even held this conversation?" Ash smirked. "Gengar, Hyper Beam!"

Trip realized Ash made him talk to buy Gengar time to rest after using Giga Impact.

"Hurry, Conkeldurr, get out of there!"

But it was too late. As the Hyper Beam hit, Conkeldurr was sent flying to the wall, and it was being held up against the wall by the Hyper Beam. Ash nodded to Gengar, and Gengar increased the power put in the Hyper Beam.

When Ash sensed that at the rate he's going, he'll send Conkeldurr to the Pokémon Center Emergency Ward, Ash held up a hand, and Gengar ended the Hyper Beam. Conkeldurr fell to the ground with a thud, and the swirls on its eyes indicated it was no longer able to battle.

"Conkeldurr is unable to battle. So, the winner is Champion Red!" Evan announced, to massive applause and cheers.

"It looks like Trainer Trip was unable to take out one of Champion Red's Pokémon, even when he did have the advantage." Ken commented. "He was simply not match for Champion Red's Pokémon!" The audience cheered at that.

"What did you say about defeating me again, Trippy?" Ash asked mockingly. Some of the audience laughed at Ash's nickname to Trip.

"I'll get you for this." Trip gritted his teeth as he saw that his Conkeldurr was heavily injured.

"Keep talking, and your mouth would fall off." Ash waved dismissively. "Save it for the talking tournament, won't you?" With that, he left the battlefield.

"**Well, that's one down." **Pikachu commented.

Ash nodded, and on the way back to the VIP Box, he tuned out the conversation between Pikachu and Lucario his thoughts were filled with the conversation he had with Pakura this morning.

'If the Dragon Princess is the one causing all these mysteries that must mean that the Dragon Duo members were actually lovers, according to Rosaline's prophecy. The question is, who is the Dragon Princess? And what had happened to the Prince that caused her to vent her anger and hate by endangering everyone's lives?' Ash thought. He unconsciously clenched his fists, as he knew the case of the missing Dragon Prince must be solved.

**BP: And I will end it here. I'll explain a few things as well. **

**First of all, it was difficult writing a fashion show scene, as usually fashion shows last an hour and a half (according to Yahoo answers), and it was also hard to describe the clothing because I had to describe it based on the images I selected, so I kind of rushed the scene a little, sorry about that. **

**Second, when I realized I didn't handle Dawn breaking Pakura's Pokégear yet, so I decided to use this opportunity to get Dawn away from the group, and also at the same time follow the readers' ideas on how Pakura should handle Dawn from reviews. I hope the result was satisfactory for you all. **

**Thirdly, unfortunately, Ash training the traded Pokémon would have to wait until next chapter, because the chapter was getting too long, and I tried to write this chapter without feeling rushed. It also looks like the Top 8 Battles, where I mentioned Ash would finally put the pieces together, wouldn't happen in Chapter 10, which was what mysterypink98 and I had planned. Cynthia would also get one of the Elites to train her in combat and Pokémon at the same time to help Ash in his quest. **

**Phillip would also have to wait until next chapter for his date, due to the fact that the chapter was wasted on writing about the break day, as I did not want to let readers feel I was rushing the chapter too much. So sorry about that.**

**The reason why I got Ash to switch is because I want as many of his ****Pokémon to shine as possible, since he had so many of them. **

**The footage of Misty's arrest and the breaking in the penthouse thing would be shown on TV live chapter. (Evil laugh) Let's see how the others react to that.**

**Paul and Gary would start unnerving them next chapter. Since the chapter was getting long, I had no choice but to end there. Sorry! **

**I know this chapter is rather terrible, but please review! **

**Anyway, suggestions on how I should write my next chapter are always welcome! Here are some questions you might want to consider: **

**1\. Who should Ash take down/humiliate next**

**2\. Pairings in the story (for Jude and Pakura. I am still indecisive. Dragon Princess is optional)**

**3\. How should Paul and Gary play a role in unnerving the traitors, and any particular traitor you want them to battle in future tournament rounds, or outside the tournament. **

**4\. Whose battle do you want to see in full for the top 128 next chapter **

**5\. Any rivals they can befriend? **

**6\. I'm contemplating bringing those Pokémon abusers in the story (Damien and Shamus) so I can kill them off, because I hate them. What do you think? **

**7\. Who should Cynthia approach for a training partner (besides Ash)**

**8\. How should the traitors react to the footage of Misty's arrest and the break in whcih turned the evidence against them on live TV, and how should the public treat them (including the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions that might have met them before)**

**9\. How should I write the next chapter (running out of ideas here)**

**Anyway, give as many suggestions and reviews as possible! **


	8. The ring, History of PAL, new Pokemon

**BP: Thank you for all the reviews, favourites and follows for the last chapter! Now, before we begin I want to emphasise from mysterypink98's messages (in the previous chapters and reviews section) that we won't accept any OCs so please, I beg all of you, please don't submit an overpowered OC with an overpowered Pokémon team and tell me what major role they should play in the story, which would force me to change ALL the chapters, along with the storyline just to fit this character in, which is something I don't want to do, and I'm sure you readers wouldn't want it either. **

**I'm sorry if I sounded harsh, but really, I'm tired of them telling me how Ash should get the Pokémon that they suggested through their OC, and how the OC would help the characters in the story. Now, please enjoy the story, and forgive my ranting. Saying what I really think is embarrassing. (Buries face in pillow)**

"That was brutal. Did you see Red signalling Gengar to increase the power of the Hyper Beam?" Flint asked in shock. Rosaline had left the battlefield, knowing her match is next.

"He did give a bit of mercy. He stopped just before Conkeldurr was on the verge of being sent to the Emergency Ward." Glacia pointed out.

"But still…that's merciless." Caitlin commented.

At Caitlin's words, Jude made a noise of disbelief that sounded halfway between a snort and a sigh. Cynthia turned to him, asking him if there's something wrong with what Caitlin said.

"Actually, if you ask me, Red is less brutal than Pakura." Jude replied. Phillip nodded, while the said person wasn't even paying attention. Instead, she was listening to music on headphones and reading a magazine called _Trainer's Weekly, _another magazine in PAL, which provides articles, quizzes, advice columns, and recipes, the last one which is the reason why Pakura reads this magazine, as they provide some good recipes she thought she could try.

"Really? Why?" Clair asked.

Jude winked, and placed his index finger on his lips. "It's a secret." He said, just as the door opened and Ash entered the VIP Box, where he waved off praises from the people for the good show he had given in the battlefield, and resumed his seat next to Cynthia.

"Getting popular?" Cynthia asked in amusement.

"I'm not humoured." Ash replied dryly. "Being popular doesn't really have any real benefit."

"Agreed." Cynthia nodded.

Ash then turned his attention to the next battle when the grass battlefield was replaced with a desert battlefield, which is very sandy and soft ground, which would easily enhance Ground-type moves, as the two opponents, Rosaline and Burgundy were being launched into the battlefield.

By the way the people were talking, Ash thought many people were curious to find out how Rosaline fights without a partner, although he privately thought it wouldn't be much of a battle at all, considering how arrogant Burgundy is, and she never won a battle against her opponents five years ago, and Rosaline is probably stronger than all of them combined. He knew she intended to use Muuna, Typhlosion and Slowking, but had the impression she only needed one Pokémon to win.

* * *

"The match between Connoisseur Burgundy and Elite Rosaline would now commence." Evan said, as both of them sent out Sawsbuck and Muuna respectively.

"Bonjour, it's tasting time, s'il vous plaît." Burgundy finished this off with a pose. "It's time to taste the flavour of your Pokémon. I'll show you some cool and elegant moves that are recommended by a professional Connoisseur."

"The hell I would let you say anything degrading about my Pokémon, I don't need your recommendation. And Jude is a thousand times better in evaluating Pokémon than you are, C-Class Connoisseur." She remembered her class since Ash had told everyone about her when they asked him to tell them stories about his journey.

"You know Jude Harrison? Could you introduce me?" Burgundy had heard of Jude Harrison, who was something like a living legend to the Connoisseurs in Unova, being one of the few who was able to achieve the S-Class status, and was the youngest one as well. Last she heard, he had moved to this region to further his ambitions.

Rosaline chanced a glance at the VIP Box, where Jude was frantically shaking his head and mouthing what she assumed to be "Say no". She could only guess since she never took up lip-reading (though Pakura did), but by the gestures Jude made, she can make a pretty good guess what he wanted to say.

"Sorry, but you know we don't make exceptions to fans, especially to those we don't know." Rosaline said. "It's terribly unpleasant for us when we get surrounded and getting bombarded by flashbulbs, personal questions, and the like, so that's why we have the VIP Box and the Tower to live in, you see. But if you do win, I might consider, but I doubt you can."

"Then we shall see." Burgundy declared. Rosaline smiled and nodded.

"Now, can we start the battle?" Rosaline directed the last sentence to Evan.

Evan nodded. "Both sides ready?"

"Yes." Both said simultaneously.

"Then….battle begin!"

* * *

"Stoutland, use Ice Fang!" Burgundy ordered. She was down to her last Pokémon and Rosaline was still at her first. Stoutland bit down on Muuna and a white mist started to seep out of its mouth. Then, the inside of Stoutland's mouth started to glow light blue brightly, and Muuna was slowly frozen.

"Muuna, Hypnosis, followed by Dream Eater!" Due to the close proximity, Hypnosis hit easily, and Stoutland fell asleep.

"No, I don't like this taste at all!" Burgundy shouted.

"Too bad." Rosaline shrugged, as Muuna used Dream Eater to recover its energy.

"Finish it off with Nightmare!"

As soon as Nightmare hit the sleeping Stoutland, it glowed red and it trashed around for a few minutes, before its eyes turned to swirls, indicating it had fainted.

"That wasn't much." Jude commented, as he watched Ken announce Rosaline as the winner, , and Rosaline walking out of the battlefield. "That only took like….15 minutes?"

"Yeah, why do they pair some Elites up with the weak Trainers?" Phillip asked, watching Burgundy tell Stoutland that it did its best and to have a good rest as she returned her Pokémon. "Better yet, why invite them, when the tournament is probably beyond their capabilities from Top 128 onwards?"

"You know they like to have all sorts of people in this tournament. Gym Leaders and Elite Fours who are no doubt the master of their respective types, Champions who utilizes various type teams very well, Trainers who have great potential, and there are people like them to weed out before the real fun begins." Ash said knowingly. "And those….people are in the last category, no doubt." By the way he said the word people, the others knew he was referring to the traitors.

"And the audience here, they love a good show." Cynthia added.

"**And they think it'll be worth it to see us take out the weaker ones, before fighting each other for the Cup." **Pikachu said, as Lucario nodded in agreement.

Pakura glanced up briefly from her magazine, and seeing Rosaline walk away from the battlefield, she then realized her match would be up next, and put away her magazine and her IPod, and hastily got up, and left the VIP Box with Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee without another word, inadvertently slamming the door in Drayden's face (he was right behind her when she left the VIP Box), and he accidentally crashed into the door, face-first. Drayden winced as he held onto his nose, which got the most damage from the crash. Some of the people in the VIP Box started laughing at Drayden's misfortune.

"Lesson number one: Never walk behind Paku when doors are concerned." Ash nodded to Drayden, as Cynthia laughed harder at the joke.

"Now you tell me." Drayden muttered, as he opened the door with one hand while still holding his bruised nose, and exited the VIP Box.

* * *

"The third battlefield would now be of Icy Terrian." said Ken. Here, the desert battlefield went downwards, and was replaced with an ice battlefield.

"That's Paku's special field, for sure." Ash said. "She can win this!"

"And our two competitors are Drayden and Pakura." On this cue, the two opponents were raised into the battlefield by a platform. As usual, Pakura had her Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee with her.

"Will Drayden be able to overcome Pakura's Dragon-Slaying team? Or will he fall to the Dragon Slayer, like many other Dragon users?" Ken asked. "Whatever the results, this is certain to be a heated exchanged between the two!"

"Trainers ready?" Evan asked, as both nodded. "Alright, please send out your Pokémon!"

"Alright, go, Druddigon!" Drayden chose to send him out as the first Pokémon.

"Let's go, Froslass!" Pakura chose the all-female Snow Land Pokémon. Froslass sparkled as she exited her Pokéball, and the band around her waist was pink, not red, which made everyone deduce it was a shiny Pokémon.

'Hmm….what I know is that Druddigon has either Rough Skin or Sheer Force as an Ability. If it is the former, I better not use Draining Kiss, since it's a contact move.' Pakura thought. 'But, this battlefield is my domain.'

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Druddigon, start things off by using Double Team, followed by Dragon Claw!" Many copies of Druddigon appeared, surrounding Froslass.

Pakura looked at all the copies, and tried to sense the real one with her aura. "Froslass, use Icy Wind on the Druddigon third from left where you're facing." Froslass obeyed, and sure enough, she hit the real one, and the copies disappeared.

"Oh? It looks like Princess Pakura is able to tell which Druddigon is the real one among the copies, but it isn't unusual, since all PAL Elites can do that." Here, the audience chuckled. "So, once again, it looks like Double Team is useless. What would Leader Drayden do?" Ken announced.

"Druddigon, use Dark Pulse!" Druddigon fired a beam of black and purple circles at Froslass from its mouth.

"Counter with Ominous Wind." Pakura said calmly. Froslass released a purple wind from her mouth to take on the Dark Pulse, and both of them clashed.

"Froslass, Ice Shard." Froslass raised her arm above her head and formed a light blue glowing ball of ice in between them. She then tossed it at Druddigon while still holding her Ominous Wind, and her Ominous Wind powered up the speed of the Ice Shard. Druddigon, being too busy holding up Dark Pulse, got hit by the Ice Shard.

"Fire Blast, go!" Drayden commanded.

"Counter with Ice Beam." Pakura replied, to everyone's surprise.

* * *

"Wait, did I just hear her say counter with Ice Beam?" Grimsley asked, shocked.

"You just did." Cynthia nodded.

"Why would she counter a powerful Fire type move with an Ice type move?" Grimsley was bewildered.

"I won't underestimate her if I were you." Ash said. "That was how I lost my Charizard when I battled her during the Elite challenge. And I lost Charizard to that Froslass."

"Yeah. When I applied to be the last member, she tested me by taking on my Fire-types with her Ice Pokémon. I thought I would win due to my advantage, but I lost so badly." Rosaline cradled her head in her hands. "She was merciless in taking my Pokémon down at that time."

"How bad was your loss?" Cynthia asked.

"I lost all six of my Pokémon, while she lost only two." Rosaline whispered, embarrassed at her loss. "But for some reason, she allowed me in, and even let me be the second member." Grimsley patted her back in comfort.

"Oh My God!" Grimsley pointed, as he spotted something that caused him to pause in comforting Rosaline, and they turned to see what is going on, and sure enough, Ice Beam overpowered Fire Blast, and the latter move was frozen.

"How did she do that?" Wallace asked, shocked at the Ice Beam managing to freeze a powerful Fire Blast. However, no one had an answer, as they were all as dumbfounded as he.

'Usually, when two attacks are of equal power, the one with the type advantage would prevail.' Ash thought. 'Which means the Ice Beam has to be much stronger than the Fire Blast in order to be able to freeze it. In other words, the only way she can overcome the Fire Blast with Ice Beam was either through sheer power, and Froslass' power must exceed Druddigon's by a significant amount in order for it to happen.' He had figured out the secret behind this after he became Champion, which allowed him to train his Pokémon's Ice moves to be able to freeze Fire-type moves as well.

* * *

"It looks like Princess Pakura's Froslass managed to freeze the Fire Blast! What power! But, we PAL locals expect nothing less from the PAL's Elite Leader!" Ken commented, and the audience cheered. "Even the fiery hot Fire Blast is unable to overcome the sheer coldness of Froslass' Ice Beam!"

Drayden didn't waste any time. "Druddigon, jump and use Dragon Claw!"

"Take the attack." Pakura replied. Druddigon slashed down on Froslass, sending her to the ground, but managed to get up. Froslass' body was suddenly surrounded in a dark indigo aura which then covered Druddigon's body.

"Druddigon, use Dragon Claw once more!" However, when Druddigon tried to use the move, he found that he couldn't use the move.

"What happened, Druddigon?" Drayden asked, concerned.

"Cursed Body. When attacking a Pokémon with this Ability, the move that hits the said Pokémon would be disabled. In other words, your Druddigon can no longer use Dragon Claw." Pakura explained. "Froslass, Shadow Ball."

The Shadow Ball hit its mark, and Druddigon stumbled back, or rather, skidded back, due to the slippery ice battlefield.

"Druddigon, Thunderbolt!" Drayden ordered. He nodded to Druddigon, and instead of hitting Froslass, the Thunderbolt hit the battlefield, and the spot where it hit (which is in front of Froslass) exploded, covering Froslass in smoke.

* * *

"Hey! I know this strategy. It had been created by the Dragon Duo before they vanished. One of their strategies was to purposely hit a move in front of the opponent, which would distract the opponent, and is so much the better when smoke appears, allowing them to get their Pokémon to make another move, which would hit the opponent." Clair commented. "It'd be cool if I could battle a member of the Legendary Dragon Duo someday."

'That is if you can find them in the first place.' Lance thought, inwardly smiling at the fact that he's the only Dragon user to have found one member of the Dragon Duo, the Princess.

"The problem is, not many people can master this strategy, as through the smoke, they can't pinpoint the location of the opponent's Pokémon." Drake commented.

'And therefore, only the PAL Elites can really use it to their advantage, as they can immediately detect the Pokémon with their aura, and react instantly.' Ash thought. 'Although it takes a longer time, Pokémon can sense other Pokémon's location through other means besides sight, it's most likely Drayden utilised this fact. He's very skilled, but it'll take more than skill to take Paku down.'

Ash watched as Drayden commanded, "Druddigon, Flash Cannon!"

"You're too slow. Froslass, Ice Shard." The Ice Shard came out of the smoke and hit Druddigon, which finished Druddigon off.

"Druddigon is unable to battle. Leader Drayden, please send out your next Pokémon."

"I have to admit, the Dragon Duo was pretty smart to be able to design such a strategy." Ash commented. He wondered what other world-renowned battle strategies they came up with.

"The Dragon Duo must've been aura users if they were able to master this strategy." Cynthia said thoughtfully, as she watched Drayden send out Fraxure, while Pakura chose to remain with Froslass.

Ash had the impression that the Prince was most likely the stronger member of the Dragon Duo. And if the Dragon Princess is able to use aura, then it's most likely the Prince knew how to use aura as well, and may even have taught the Princess how to use aura. He wondered if the boy who went in the Team Rocket Headquarters alone to steal their weapon was the Dragon Prince. If not, how else could it have been stolen, seeing as the valuable weapon is most likely under heavy guard? Maybe the Dragon Prince handed the weapon over to the Princess to take care of it before he disappeared.

Pakura was now ordering an Ice Shard on a falling Fraxure. The Ice Shard sent it flying towards the wall, and Pakura commanded Froslass to use Draining Kiss to take away Fraxure's remaining energy while recovering hers at the same time, and then use Blizzard, before Fraxure can recover. The Blizzard was strong enough to pin Fraxure to the ground, and Drayden was forced to watch as Fraxure slowly weakened from the attack before finally fainting, only unlike Ash, Pakura didn't stop the attack immediately.

"Is she trying to kill Fraxure?" Grimsley yelped.

"No. She's trying to make sure Fraxure would never get up after fainting. She knew there are some cases where a Pokémon seemed to have fainted, but was still able to get up to fight, she wants to remove the chances of it happening." Ash replied. "Don't worry, though. I made her promise not to send any of the participants' Pokémon to the Emergency Ward before we came here. I'm sure she'll keep her promise. Besides, she does own a Fraxure, so I'm sure she'll let his Fraxure off easy."

'So that's what Jude meant when he said that Ash is less brutal than Pakura.' Cynthia thought.

As soon as Ash said the last word, Pakura finally let Fraxure go after waiting for about a minute. Haxorus fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Fraxure is unable to battle, Froslass wins! Leader Drayden, send out your last Pokémon!" Evan announced.

'Not only is there something wrong with her personality and attitude towards people, she is seriously ruthless. I wouldn't want her as a girlfriend, even if you paid me.' Lance thought. He still hadn't really forgiven her for calling him useless deadweight and dumbass, and she had the gall to call him stupid and rude too!

He thought she was rather hypocritical, since she wasn't exactly polite to even her own Elites. Maybe nobody cared what came out of her mouth because of her looks, since he couldn't deny that she wasn't one of the most stunning, sensuous girls he had ever met in his life. He wondered if the PAL locals even cared that her personality is as cold as ice, which was befitting of her Ice specialty.

* * *

"Haxorus is unable to battle. Froslass wins. Which means, the winner is Pakura!" Evan announced, as the audience screamed and cheered for Pakura.

Pakura silently returned her Froslass and instead of making her way to the VIP Box, she made her way to the Battle Arena lobby. 'What a disappointment.' Pakura thought. 'With poor judgement too. If I were him, I'll never consider a backstabbing bitch to take over my Gym.' She shook her head at that thought.

"Sylveon, whose match is next?" Pakura asked, as she stopped to talk to Sylveon.

"**If I remember correctly, Lance's match is next. If I'm not wrong, he's against some Dragon Buster called Georgia. Poor girl wouldn't stand a chance despite the type advantage she might have." **Sylveon replied.

"She wouldn't stand a chance against any Dragon Master." Pakura replied dismissively. "Except maybe Iris, but she's no Dragon Master."

"**So, what are you going to do since Ash now knows that the Dragon Princess is the one causing all these?"** Eevee asked. Since she was a new Pokémon, unlike Sylveon and Skitty, she was rather ignorant of her owner's secrets.

Sylveon and Skitty looked incredulously at Eevee, who tilted her head, wondering what she said wrong.

Pakura shook her head at Sylveon and Skitty, indicating they can tell Eevee everything behind the scenes later. "I'm sure by now the Dragon Princess knows that the Elites are onto her. The thing is, they won't be able to catch her, because I know for one while Ash has the Soul Dew to increase the power of his aura and psychic abilities, the Dragon Princess has the aura abilities of two people- her own and the Prince's."

"**Do you know what happened to the Prince?" **Eevee asked.

"I know for one that the Prince died five years ago, but before he died, he transferred both his abilities and skills he may have to the Princess. So she herself technically had her aura enhanced, and she can use a wide variety of abilities, both hers and the Prince's, which would give Ash some trouble." Pakura nodded.

"**And Rosaline too. After all, she's the one who's working on the Dragon Duo case." **Sylveon said.

"Don't talk about that girl with me." Pakura sneered at the thought of the other female Elite. "I swear, she couldn't even kill a fly, let alone take lives when needed. Stupid girl, thinking she's some strong psychic, but seriously, compared to the Dragon Duo, she's really weak. She can't even resist, let alone reverse the memory block placed on her brain, along with Jude and Phillip's, and it was placed almost four years ago."

"**What do you mean?" **Eevee asked curiously.

"All in good time, Eevee. You'll know soon enough." Pakura replied.

"**You really hate her, don't you?" **Skitty asked.

"I hate all of them. Not just her. Don't even get me started on Phillip and Jude." Pakura was restraining herself from just going back to the VIP Box to strangle them right then and there, but that would be unbefitting of someone who was well-known as the calmest member among them.

Pakura frowned, as she took her mind off them to think about Ash's ability to see the past through dreams. She knew it's very difficult to use psychic power to manipulate dreams, as this itself is an ability, albeit it only activates during sleep. She knew even the combined psychic powers of the Dragon Duo would prove difficult to change the dream.

The PAL Elites would never find out who the Dragon Princess is. Not if she had anything to say about it. After all, she mused, wouldn't it be fun to see how long the Elites would take to solve the mysteries, not knowing one already knew all the answers?

She couldn't even call them mysteries actually- it's more like her tragic past was coming back to haunt her, and all the others are actually doing is try to uncover her past. But she would do anything to keep it secret, even if she has to fight against the others. If that time comes, she decided Rosaline would go first. She found herself anticipating that moment with pleasure.

"Now come along, we have a certain cave to go to. Eevee, the Pokémon there would tell you everything when we get there, so just wait a bit longer, alright?"

"Ok!" Eevee chirped.

Sylveon seem excited. **"I hope Espeon is there! It's been long since I last saw my mate."**

Pakura stayed silent for a long time, before finally saying, "I know, but we must be discreet as we make our way there. The good thing is I know Lance wouldn't go to the cave today, since he's attending Rosaline's lecture, and Cynthia's match is not a match anyone would want to miss."

With that, they exited the Battle Arena.

* * *

"Well, she did keep her promise at least." Ash sighed, as Lance left for his match. "And where is she anyway?" He said as the door opened, and only Drayden came in the VIP Box. Ash knew Pakura left immediately after she was declared the winner, ignoring the audience that were cheering for her. Ash thought Drayden looked distinctly shocked over his early exit of the running for the Cup, and couldn't blame him, considering he was one of the stronger Gym Leaders in the Unova region.

'She's strong.' Cynthia thought. 'And I heard that she was the one to teach Ash hand-to-hand combat and weapon combat, which meant she's probably the best in this field. I think I know who I want to ask to be my training partner.'

Cynthia made a mental note to send her a note via Togekiss to ask her to be her training partner, but wondered if Pakura would even say yes. Oh well, if she didn't try she'd never know, as Ash had decided now to be a good time to start telling them about Lance's opponent, Georgia, and how he thinks it won't take even ten minutes for Lance to take out all her Pokémon, even with her type advantage, and her constant rivalry with Iris.

That sentence caught Cynthia's attention. "Wait, she was Iris' rival?"

"Yeah, apparently Trainer from the Village of Dragons beaten her badly in a battle, so she became a Dragon Buster so she can defeat Dragon Masters. If you ask me, Pakura would've made a much better Dragon Buster, but I'm certain she won't waste her time to seek out Dragon Masters and defeat them, since if you ask me, that is a waste of time and pretty boring, since not many people can really become Dragon Masters." Ash shrugged, staring blankly as Lance pulverized Georgia's Beartic with his Flygon making use of the rocky battlefield.

Lucario clacked his tongue. **"I say they should've pitted Iris against Pakura. I want to see how long this so-called Dragon Master lasts against her. Drayden didn't last very long, did he?" **

"No, he didn't." Cynthia agreed, after Ash translated what Lucario said to her.

"And Iris is still a long way of becoming a Dragon Master if you ask me, though she had trained with Clair in the Blackthorn Gym, and was a shoo-in to take over the Opelucid Gym." Ash commented.

"She was?" Cynthia asked. That was news to her. What a lot of interesting things she's learning about her opponent Iris today.

Ash nodded.

"**Who do you think you'll get next, Ash?"** Pikachu asked.

Ash shrugged. "I hope I get Max or Cilan. Brock, Trip, May, Dawn and Misty are already out of this tournament, and Iris is guaranteed to go down with Cynthia as her opponent."

"**And Misty is in jail, Dawn was sent home and everyone is guaranteed to have their reputations tarnished this afternoon. I wonder how they would handle humiliation." **Lucario mused.

Ash smiled wryly, as Ken announced that Georgia's Vanilluxe had been taken out, and Georgia was down to her last Pokémon- her Bisharp.

He started whispering so softly that only his Pokémon (Pikachu is sitting on his shoulder and Lucario is on his lap) Cynthia (she was sitting next to him), Grimsley (though he had to lean in to hear) Jude, Phillip and Rosaline can hear him (since they have enhanced hearing).

"Our goal is not the traitors- as I feel me being PAL Champion is revenge enough, considering all they did was to think I'm some weak boy who would never amount to anything or be the very best, but to find out who the Dragon Princess is, what are her motives behind her killing the Dragon Clan and endangering everybody, and what happened to the Dragon Prince."

"By the prophecy, I'm willing to bet that the Dragon Prince already died, but the question is, how." Cynthia frowned.

"Well, since there were rumours that they were actually going to get married, do you think the Dragon Princess was engaged to the Dragon Prince, like how our Leader may be engaged?" Phillip asked.

That made everyone gave him funny looks. "What made you think our Leader's engaged, Phillip?" Rosaline asked.

"Well, for one she wears a diamond ring on her left ring finger?" Phillip asked uncertainly.

"Wait, she wears a ring on her left ring finger?" Ash asked, suddenly interested in that fact.

"Yeah, it was a heart-shaped one and quarter carat diamond ring on a platinum band. She's been wearing it as long as I remember…didn't you notice?"

"Nobody bothers to look at people's hands when they interact with others." Jude huffed.

"I didn't really notice either…." Ash said, embarrassed.

"Well, I look at their hands, because you know…" Phillip embarrassedly trailed off.

Ash knew Phillip doesn't like making eye contact while talking, exactly like Pakura. Only difference is, Phillip is really socially awkward, but Pakura can make eye contact easily while talking, only she doesn't want to. Many suitors who tried to woo her were slightly irritated at this fact; they tried to get her to look them in the eye and remind her of the fact that making eye contact is polite, only for Pakura to say she doesn't like looking at their ugly faces and/or she punched them in the face.

"Did you ask why she wears that ring?" Grimsley asked.

"No….I was afraid that if I asked, it may dredge up painful memories, or she may lash out at me or something, so I daren't ask…" Phillip said.

That set Ash thinking. It would most likely be painful if someone you pledged your heart to for the rest of your life suddenly disappear, more painful than a break-up, actually, considering the fact that in engagements, both parties are mentally ready to spend the rest of their lives with each other, which isn't really necessary in romantic relationships.

Ash sighed, as the sudden revelations made him sure of one thing: The mysteries were like a Domino's effect, and in this case he was half sure that the Dragon Prince vanishing was what had started the mysteries. Could the Dragon Princess be the one who left the petunia and the note? If so, how did she get in the Tower without suspicion from the receptionist?

He then heard loud cheering, which indicated Lance had crushed Georgia's Bisharp, and that caused him to start in his seat.

"**Hey, careful!" **Lucario said, since he was sitting on Ash's lap, he felt the jolt when Ash jumped slightly from his seat which could've thrown him off his lap.

"Oh, sorry." Ash apologized. "I zoned out there for a moment. Good luck, Cynthia." He nodded to her, as she smiled at him, and left the VIP Box.

* * *

"The battle would now commence in Normal Terrain." Ken announced, as the rocky battlefield was replaced with a neutral battlefield. "And our two competitors are Champion Cynthia and Trainer Iris, who wants to be a Dragon Master!" At this, both of them were launched into the battlefield.

"Participants, please send out your Pokémon!" Evan said.

"Go, Gible!" Iris sent out the Land Shark Pokémon as a first Pokémon.

"**Now that's new. I didn't know she caught a Gible." **Pikachu commented.** "Must've caught it when she got to Blackthorn City to train with Clair, and before she went to your house four years ago with everyone." **Pikachu growled at the last sentence as he remembered all too well what they said about his trainer.

"**Calm down." **Rosaline's Espeon said. **"That Gible doesn't look very strong. Iris probably couldn't bear to let it in serious battle like her Axew." **

"Togekiss, battle dance!" Cynthia sent out the newly classified Fairy/Flying Jubilee Pokémon.

"Battle begin!" Evan put down his flags.

"Alright, Gible, end this with Dragon Rage!" Gible opened his mouth and fired a red-orange fireball from his mouth at Togekiss.

Cynthia smiled, and let the Dragon Rage hit Togekiss, and when it did, an enormous explosion occurred, covering the battlefield.

When the smoke cleared, to the people from the other regions' surprise, Togekiss was still hovering from the spot where he was sent out, completely unharmed and unfazed.

"What the?" Iris yelled. "But how?"

Cynthia laughed. "Well, you see, Togekiss is now a Fairy/Flying type. And Fairy type Pokémon are immune to Dragon type moves."

"Don't be ridiculous. There's no such Pokémon type." Iris said. "You must've made it up."

"You can choose to believe me or not, but I am sure the evidence is before your eyes. Togekiss, use Metronome!" Metronome turned out to be Ice Beam, and Togekiss fired a powerful Ice Beam towards Gible.

"Gible, dodge it by using Dig!"

Cynthia shook her head. "Use Toxic into the hole!"

Togekiss obeyed, and Gible dug another hole to get out, but it was too late, as Gible was poisoned.

As soon as Gible was out Iris said, "Counter with Draco Meteor!" However, when Gible shot the orange ball into the air, the orange ball simply fell haphazardly towards the ground, and exploding pathetically into smoke when it hit the ground.

"…" The audience was silent when they saw that the Draco Meteor failed miserably. Even Ken couldn't find the words to describe the event.

This gave Cynthia an opportunity to attack. "Togekiss, use Air Slash!" The Air Slash hit Gible, and he stumbled backwards.

"Don't give up yet, Gible!" Iris shouted. "Use Sand Attack!"

"Togekiss, use Swift!" The Swift managed to disperse the Sand Attack and the Swift stars continued to head towards Gible.

"Gible, use Sandstorm, followed by Take Down!"

"Togekiss, Fairy Wind to disperse the Sandstorm and wait until it comes closer." Cynthia instructed calmly. Togekiss nodded, and used Fairy Wind to disperse of the Sandstorm so that he could see which direction Gible would attack from and waited as Gible's position was revealed and he was charging towards him for the Take Down.

Cynthia waited until the last second, before saying, "Now, Dazzling Gleam!" Togekiss emitted a bright flash of white light that damaged Gible, and sent him back to the ground. Gible was now finding it hard to get up due to the damage taken and the poison that is slowly taking away his energy. Iris was getting flustered since she didn't know what the two Fairy-type moves used by Cynthia earlier are, since she never heard of them before.

'Gible looked badly damaged from the last two moves. Just what kind of moves are Fairy Wind and Dazzling Gleam?' Iris thought.

"Finish it off with Metronome!" Ironically, Metronome turned out to be Draco Meteor, and instead of some orange ball falling randomly towards the ground (like Iris' Gible and Ash's Garchomp back when he was a Gible, but he mastered it eventually), the orange ball of light exploded, which released multiple smaller spheres at Gible.

"Use Dig, to evade it, hurry!" Iris commanded.

"Too late. Metronome, once again!" Metronome turned out to be Venoshock, which deals double damage if the opponent is poisoned, such as Iris' Gible at that moment. The Venoshock managed to his Gible, who got sent back to the ground. The double damage due to the poison status was too much for the already tired Gible, and he fainted.

"Gible is unable to battle. Trainer Iris, please send out your next Pokémon."

"Oh! It looks like Gible is unable to withstand the power of Champion Cynthia's Togekiss! What Pokémon would Trainer Iris use to combat this powerful Togekiss?" Ken wondered.

* * *

"This is coming from someone who wants to be a Dragon Master?" Jude said in disgust.

"That's why I said, she's a long way of becoming a Dragon Master." Ash replied. "She's nowhere near Drayden's level, let alone Lance's. Besides, despite wanting to be a Dragon Master, only two of her Pokémon are Dragon-types."

"And she only caught Pokémon that want to go with her, and I bet she caught Gible because he wants to be with her." Phillip said.

"She was somewhat like me." Ash admitted. "And she calls me a kid. Well, takes one to know one."

"**Wonder what Fraxure would say if he saw her right now." **Jude's Purrloin said.

"**Probably something along the lines of her being a hypocrite. She wants to be a Dragon Master, yet she only catches Pokémon that want to go with her, and it's only luck that two happen to be Dragon types. If she wants a Dragon Pokémon she should battle for them and catch them." **Phillip's (Formerly Iris')Emolga replied, as Iris sent out her Excadrill next, letting Ken comment that Iris may be going for type advantage this time.

'And not to mention that if you want a strong Dragon Pokémon, you have to give them battling experience from the very beginning, whether if they are on their first stage of evolution or not. I highly doubt Lance got his Dragon Pokémon to be powerful by babying them.' Ash thought, remembering Iris not wanting to battle him since he always took battles seriously, and called him a kid for that.

He thought she was being hypocritical since only kids are scared of their Pokémon being hurt during training battles, which is essential for a Pokémon to be more powerful, but not to the point of being abusive.

* * *

"Excadrill, Drill Run, let's go!" Iris commanded.

'Too easy.' Cynthia thought. "Togekiss, Steel Wing!" The Drill Run and Steel Wing clashed, and Togekiss managed to throw Excadrill off his feet and to the ground.

"It looks like once again, Togekiss was able to overpower Excadrill! Would Trainer Iris be able to pull out of this pinch?" Ken asked.

"Excadrill, straight up!" Iris said, and Excadrill somersaulted so that he was falling feet first instead of head first.

"Togekiss, use Brick Break!" Cynthia countered.

"Hurry, dodge it, I don't care how, just do it!" Iris screamed in desperation. Excadrill could sense his trainer's distress, and dodged it by using Dig, effectively dodging Brick Break.

"A mistake, Iris." Cynthia sighed. "Flamethrower into the hole!" With that, Excadrill came out of the ground immediately, clutching to the part where he got burned while underground.

"Finish it off with Fire Blast!" Cynthia continued. Excadrill had no time to dodge it, and was his directly. When the Fire Blast move cleared, Excadrill was shown on the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Excadrill is unable to battle! Trainer Iris, please send out your last Pokémon!"

"Alright, come out, Dragonite!" Iris chose her Dragonite as her last Pokémon- which was probably her strongest Pokémon.

"Battle begin!" Evan placed his flags down.

"And Trainer Iris' last Pokémon is a Dragonite! It looks a bit different from the normally docile-looking Dragonite we are used to, would Dragonite be able to take down Champion Cynthia's Togekiss?" Ken wondered.

"Now Dragonite, start things off by using Flamethrower!"

"You use Flamethrower too!" Cynthia countered. Both Flamethrowers clashed in the middle and it was a stalemate.

"Alright Togekiss, Metronome!" Metronome turned out to be Moonblast, a move that Cynthia had once seen before with Pakura's exhibition match against Wallace. Togekiss shot the Moonblast at Dragonite, and it hit Dragonite. Surprisingly, it didn't seem to do much damage, despite the fact that it's a Fairy-type move and Dragon Pokémon are weak to it.

'This Dragonite has good endurance.' Cynthia thought. "Metronome, once more!" Metronome turned out to be Flash Cannon, but Dragonite, under Iris' orders, countered with Flamethrower once again.

"Now, use Encore!" Togekiss raised his wings and a white orb of energy appeared between them. Togekiss then fired the orb at Dragonite. When it hit, Dragonite was sparkling white.

"Dragonite, use Thunderpunch!" Iris said, but Dragonite used Flamethrower instead, the last move that he had used.

"It looks like Dragonite is affected by Encore. As we all know, Encore is a move that forces the opponent to keep using the move that it last used until the effect wears off. How would Iris overcome Encore?" Ken announced.

"Now, use Rain Dance!" Cynthia commanded, and it started to rain on the battlefield, which would cut the power of the Flamethrower in half.

"Dragonite, use Thunder!" But due to Encore, he used Flamethrower instead.

"There's no way Dragonite can use any moves except for Flamethrower as long as he is under the effects of Encore." Cynthia called out.

"Dragonite! You've got to get out of that Encore! You have to!" Iris shouted desperately.

Cynthia shook her head. "Use Thunder Wave!" The move paralyzed Dragonite, which affected his flight abilities, causing it to go towards the ground.

"Dazzling Gleam!" The said move hit Dragonite as he was trying to get to the ground, and he crashed into the ground, but got up.

Cynthia decided to put Iris out of her agony. "Aura Sphere!"

The blue sphere hit a still-getting up Dragonite, and he fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Dragonite, no!" Iris called out, clearly distressed.

"Dragonite is unable to battle, Togekiss wins! Which means, the winner of this match is Champion Cynthia!"

The audience started clapping and cheering for Cynthia as she walked out the battlefield. But instead of going back to the VIP Box immediately, she sent out her Togekiss and asked him to use Rest to recover his energy. After this was done, she went to the receptionist to ask for a pen and a piece of paper, scribbled a quick note, and then handed it to Togekiss.

"Find her, and please pass this note to her. Come find me here after you get her reply, won't you?" Cynthia requested. Togekiss nodded his consent, and flew off, carrying the letter in his mouth. With that, Cynthia sat back and waited.

20 minutes later, Togekiss came back with another note, and Cynthia opened it.

_I'll be waiting for you at the upstairs balcony of the Palm Court at the Plaza during lunch. We'll talk from there. –Pakura_

"Good job, Togekiss." Cynthia said, as she returned Togekiss back to his Pokéball for a well-earned rest. With that, she returned to the VIP Box in time to see Phillip's Scizor defeating Flint's last Pokémon, which was his Flareon. Explaining to Ash she had stomach-ache and thus went to the toilet after the match, she then looked at the scoreboard. Judging by what she saw on the said scoreboard, Scizor was Phillip's first Pokémon, and that surprised her, since Scizor had a double weakness to fire.

"Flareon is unable to battle. Scizor wins. Which means, the winner is Phillip!" Phillip, being shy, quickly exited the battlefield, Emolga flying behind him (this time, it was a water battlefield with some platforms) almost before Evan finished declaring him as the winner.

"He used Rain Dance to lower the damage of Fire-type moves, and made use of the water in the battlefield to weaken Flint's Pokémon before finishing them off." Ash explained to Cynthia. "Flint was really unlucky to have to fight in that battlefield. Well, Phillip isn't the brains of our Elite for nothing."

"That's true." Rosaline agreed as Jude's match with Elesa began, this time on a rock battlefield, which was what Lance had.

* * *

"What are you going to do after you're done eating, Red?" Rosaline asked, as all of them filed out with everybody else, heading for lunch after Jude won against Elesa, and Grimsley won against Phoebe. Since there were still many people around them, she decided to call him Red.

"Hmm? I think I'll try and get to know my traded Pokémon. I hope all of them would like me. Paku said some of them were traded because they were either disobedient or the Pokémon themselves had some issues but their Trainers couldn't get them to say what issues they had."

"You'll do fine." Jude replied, as they exited the Battle Arena. "By the way, where's Cynthia?"

Ash looked around, and sure enough, his beautiful girlfriend wasn't anywhere.

"That's weird. She wouldn't run off like that without telling me. Wonder where she went." Ash muttered.

"Maybe she had a surprise for you?" Phillip suggested. "After all, you did pamper her well over the few days you went out."

"Well, as long as she doesn't get herself in trouble, I'm fine with it." Ash said.

"And if she cheats on you?" Jude asked dryly.

"I believe she wouldn't." Ash answered, and started to glare at Jude, but decided against it when he had remembered what happened to Jude that made him suspicious of the female species in general (except his mother, his sister, Rosaline and Pakura)

They walked past a stall that was set up outside the Battle Arena that was run by Jessie, James and Meowth.

"Is the crowd coming?" Jessie asked.

"We're the first ones out so they're behind us, if that's what you mean." Ash replied. He looked down at the products that were on sale. There were badges with the pictures of all the Pokémon that had battled earlier, candy bars that had pictures of Lucario printed on the wrappings, cotton candy that resembled Sylveon's head, balloons in the shape of Togekiss, Dragonite miniature statues, Excadrill stuffed toys that can be manipulated into looking like a drill, and many other products.

"We figured that if we sold products relating to the Pokémon that had fought today, or to your partner Pokémon, we get a lot more business." James explained.

"Er….right…" Ash said. He turned and whispered to James. "So where're you taking your wife tonight?" He nodded to Jessie.

"I thought I'd take her to see a move called The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

Ash had the impression that Jessie may not like the movie, but said, "Well, then, enjoy your date."

"Thanks." James nodded.

Ash looked over to the approaching crowd. "Well, got to go, see you!" With that, they rushed off to the Tower. The last thing Ash saw before the doors closed behind them were the large crowd gathering around the stall asking for various items.

Today's lunch was pea soup, rare roast beef sliced as thin as paper (imported), noodles in a green sauce, cheese that melts on one's tongue with sweet blue grapes for dessert. For drinks they offered plain water, raspberry juice, cherry cola, Root Beer, and tea. They had sent out all their Pokémon to eat as well, and Ash noted that Pikachu was sharing a bowl with Buneary. He wondered if he should let Buneary outside her Pokéball, since her former owner is probably back in Twinleaf Town.

As Ash sipped his tea, he wondered what Cynthia was doing, and hoped it wasn't anything to do with hunting down the Dragon Princess to get the aura-infused weapon from her, because even Arceus had praised her skills, so she was no pushover. Well, he'll ask her later, since he'll see her at Rosaline's lecture, which she said she'll go during breakfast.

"Anyway, good news, I found another clue to the Dragon Duo case." Rosaline said.

That got Ash's attention. "You did? What was it?" he asked.

Rosaline handed Ash two torn pieces of a newspaper clip. It was dated almost five years back, and it was picture of a very short handwritten note to the paper. Apparently, someone had torn out the middle part of the letter.

"Where did you get it from?" Ash asked.

"Scrounged all the old newspapers. I'm pretty surprised when I saw these torn pieces. Someone must've taken some parts of the letter." Rosaline replied.

Ash nodded, and looked down at the letter as everyone gathered around to read it. The first piece said:

_To whom it may concern: _

_Do you remember the offer that was made of me and the Prince being Elite members, and we accepted? I'm very sorry, but both of us would have to decline the offer, as something has come up and we have to attend to it immediately. It's a personal matter, and as we do not know when we'll return, we'll have to step down from our positions, which means the PAL citizens would have to find somebody else to run the region. I don't know if my advice would be followed, but I recommend the strongest Elite member of PAL to do it, and I'm not going to leave you all high and dry with only two members in the PAL Elite. _

'And that was where the letter was torn, but why?' Ash wondered. He then continued to read the second part. The second piece said:

_I'm sorry if I do not have a second person to recommend, but whoever the last spot was given to, I hope he or she would be willing to put Pokémon's lives above them, and understand that in this world, it's kill-or-be-killed. _

_Goodbye, everyone. _

_Dragon Princess_

"The Dragon Princess must've recommended someone as one of the members of the Elite!" Ash gasped. "And she must've known that we'll find this letter, as if she recommended this person, this person would be a lead to where she is, and she wants to prevent it from happening. But why would she only take the middle part and leave the rest behind, and not just take the whole thing?"

"I think it's because the library has a policy of recording whoever takes something out of the library, since it is library property." Rosaline replied. "To make sure that the library does not record them taking the newspaper itself or call her out for tearing a page, she only took the middle part so that it wouldn't be obvious that she took the most important part of the letter with her."

"I vaguely remember somebody asking the Dragon Duo if they would be the Elite members, but I can't remember who." Phillip frowned.

Ash frowned. So they were offered the remaining two Elite spots before the Dragon Prince went missing, which probably caused the Princess to lose confidence in battling and taking care of the region. And why did the Princess think it's a kill-or-be-killed in this world?

He looked at the date of the newspaper clipping at the first piece. He bet it was written shortly after the Prince went missing, and the Princess probably went in hiding after this, which made everyone brand them as missing, and even became a case that Rosaline had to crack.

He read the last line of the letter again, and knew that the last member referred to Rosaline. While Rosaline puts lives above her own like them, she just couldn't grasp the kill-or-be-killed fact. He remembered Phillip mentioned that the onetime Pakura dealt a killing blow on a person in front of her, she had panicked and talked about how he might be saved if they quickly took him to the hospital. After that, Pakura never took Rosaline out with her again.

'I wonder if the Dragon Princess was disappointed in Rosaline being the last member.' Ash thought. 'Who had she recommended for the third spot? And how did she get in the library without being recognized?'

* * *

When Cynthia arrived at the place Pakura stated to meet her, she was already waiting at the table. Apparently, high tea at the Plaza was supposed to be a very big deal, as Cynthia saw most people snapping pictures of themselves eating chocolate chip scones.

As Cynthia sat down on the gold chair opposite Pakura's, she realized that from their table, they could see what was going on below them, which was what Pakura was currently doing- looking out the window down at the people. Cynthia turned to look at her left hand, and sure enough, like Phillip had said, there was a diamond ring on her left ring finger. The diamond was in a heart shape as well.

"Hello, Champion Cynthia." Pakura greeted her calmly, as she sipped her tea.

"Thanks for taking time off to meet me here, Pakura." Cynthia replied appreciatively.

Pakura nodded. "Do you want to order something?"

"Sure." Cynthia took the menu Pakura offered. "How about you?"

"I'm not hungry." Pakura said. "And I just ordered tea."

Cynthia decided to order some filet with fries and for drinks, iced lemon tea.

As they were waiting for the order, Pakura nudged Cynthia. "It's the Dragon Loser and her Purrloin-phobic boyfriend."

Cynthia looked down and sure enough, Iris and Cilan were heading towards the cash machine next to the Hotel beneath them. Judging by the fact that Cilan's arm was around Iris' shoulders, and her fingers were slipped through his, they were definitely together. Cynthia smirked, as she knew this would make a good gossip factor among the PAL Elites. The two of them were totally canoodling, oblivious to the fact that there might be people sitting above them who didn't necessarily want to witness them kissing. Cynthia was disgusted with their lack of privacy, and she was so absorbed in her thoughts, she didn't notice she was shaking the sugar packets she'd torn open over the window she had opened.

"And what are you doing?" Pakura asked, raising her eyebrow.

"Nothing." Cynthia looked at Pakura innocently.

"Clearly, you are not doing nothing." Pakura said. "What it looks like you're doing is pouring packets of sugar on Iris' head." She rolled her eyes at that statement, but handed Cynthia more packets as she noticed her sugar supply running low.

"It's going to snow, but only on her head." Cynthia nodded. "I think she deserved it."

"Hey!" Iris voice, sounding noticeably irritated, floated up to them. "What- ew! What's in my hair?"

Pakura closed the windows and the curtains and motioned for Cynthia to get down so that Iris couldn't see them. Below, she opened the bottom half of the window (the height of window was from the floor to the ceiling so customers can enjoy the view as much as possible), so that they could hear what Iris was saying.

"What's the matter?" Cilan asked, as he placed his wallet into his back pocket.

"There's something- sand or something- in my hair." Iris said, still fluffing out her hair- though Cynthia thought she didn't want to do it since it'll make her hair look much messier, and even if she was one of those girls that didn't care about her appearance like Dawn, she probably didn't want anyone to see her hair looking different.

Cilan leaned closer to examine Iris' hair. "Looks fine to me." He replied. That sentence made Cynthia start laughing, only she muffled it behind her hand.

"Well." Iris finally answered, with one last shake of her big locks. "I guess you're right. Come on. Let's go."

They waited until the couple rounded the Ice Cream shop before they sat up. Cynthia was laughing, while Pakura was only slightly amused.

"Could I be excused for a minute?" Cynthia asked, sounding slightly jittery since she was trying not to laugh. She couldn't discuss her request seriously without laughing at the moment. Pakura nodded her assent, and handed Cynthia 10 Pokédollars to give to the washroom attendant, which she put in her pocket.

Cynthia thought that the ladies room was totally the nicest one she's been in so far. It's all pink, and there are mirrors and little couches everywhere, and in the stalls, besides a toilet, there was a private sink with a huge mirror and a dressing table with a little stool with tassels hanging off it. Once Cynthia was alone, she started letting her laughter out, as she thought the look on Iris' face when the sugar got to her hair was way too hilarious. Thank goodness no one was in at the moment. She finally pulled herself together after five minutes, and deciding it's safe to go back to the Palm Court, she exited the ladies' room, and out of generosity, decided to give the washroom attendant five Pokédollars, although she didn't attend her.

"Feeling better?" Pakura asked, having noticed Cynthia was unable to say anything without laughing after the "Sugar in Iris' hair" incident.

"Better." Cynthia replied.

"Here's your order." That's when their waitress, Kirsten, came over to give Cynthia her order, and at the same time, wiping their table as she noticed the sugar Cynthia spilt over it.

As Pakura was drinking tea, she said in a serious voice, "So let me get this straight. You want me to train you in hand-to-hand combat and how to wield weapons, and be your training partner?"

Cynthia nodded, as she started on her meal.

Pakura sighed. "Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"

Cynthia nodded again. "Yes. You mean that in time the Five Bosses would come for you, and your lives would be in danger. And the Dragon Princess is also trying to take our lives, correct?"

"That is correct."

"That's why I want to learn how to fight back. So I can fight alongside all of you, alongside Ash, without being in the side-lines when the time comes." Cynthia said determinedly. "I know Ash wouldn't train me himself for fear of hurting me during training, but I want to do this."

"It isn't very easy to learn how to wield a weapon. And I am not a lenient trainer. Are you sure you want me to do the training?" Pakura challenged.

"Yes." Cynthia said, her voice not wavering.

"Very well. We will begin tomorrow. Meet me in the Tower lobby at 8pm. Wear something comfortable, don't wear these." She nodded to Cynthia's outfit. "And I recommend you weak sneakers, and tie up your hair." She pointed to her high heeled boots, and her long hair.

That was when the bright rays of the afternoon sun caught on the diamond in the ring Pakura was wearing on her finger, and the resulting reflection sent as explosion of little rainbows all over Cynthia's face, making her blink.

"Sorry." Pakura faced her hand away from Cynthia's face, making the rainbows on her face disappear.

"Are you engaged, Pakura?" Cynthia decided to ask.

"No, the ring was a birthday gift." Pakura replied.

Cynthia waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't so she simply nodded, as she continued eating her lunch, while Pakura sipped her tea, waiting for Cynthia to finish her lunch so they could go to the Lecture Theater together to attend Rosaline's lecture.

Cynthia had the impression that the ring meant something else, and it wasn't a birthday gift like Pakura had said, since it looked exactly like an engagement ring, now she had seen it up close.

* * *

"Gallade is unable to battle! Aggron wins! Which means, the winner is Paul!" Gary was trying not to laugh when he announced the verdict.

"What did you say about defeating me with type advantage?" Paul asked Max, smirking. Max had followed them all the way deep into the forest with May and Brock, and had challenged Paul to a battle, thinking that he could make Paul withdraw from the tournament since there are many powerful opponents in the said competition, and Elite Fours and Champions deserved to have strong opponents, such as him (in his fantasy).

Paul had accepted the challenge, because Max would call him a coward if he said no (he didn't really want to waste his time, actually.) Paul had observed Max's match earlier, and realized that he had relied on his Gallade a lot, and to Max, is probably his secret weapon and the powerhouse of the team. Well, secret weapon or not, he knew that would never work on any of the Elites.

"You…you must've cheated!" Max accused. "There's no way a Pokémon with a type disadvantage can defeat a Pokémon with a type advantage, that's not how Pokémon battles work!"

"Yeah, the opponent must be cheating if you lost. So it isn't cheating when you win?" Paul asked sarcastically. 'He always goes by the book, which explains why his battles are boring to watch.' He knew that during Max's match, which was against some girl called Jeanette Fisher. While she had defeated Max's first two Pokémon, he brought out his Gallade, and it was all over for the poor girl. Max had mocked her when she had lost, and that had angered Paul and Gary. (This match happened after the lunch break and since Ash and the others didn't return after the one hour allotted lunch break for those fighting in the afternoon, they didn't know about it, but they made a mental note to tell Ash.)

"My brother would never cheat in battles!" May hissed.

"Yes, because he's so dependent on his Gallade, I'm sure the next opponent would take him down easily. I hope it's with a Jirachi." Gary said casually.

"What do you mean?" Trip said, getting nervous.

"Oh didn't you know? Champion Red owns a Jirachi, you know, and we've met it. And Jirachi now hates a certain bespectacled kid because he turned his back on his friend." Paul smirked.

"You're lying!" Brock said. "Jirachi would never say bad things about his best friend. He must've poached Jirachi too."

"Was he?" Gary raised his eyebrow. "I heard a certain Pokémon called Manaphy also hated May too during the second round of Tag Battles."

"You-!" May lunged forward, but Gary sidestepped her, which caused her to crash into the tree he was leaning on.

Paul whistled. "Nice work." And he hi-fived Gary.

Trip made to take out a Pokémon, but Paul used Weavile to immobilize them with Ice Beam, leaving only their heads. He also commanded Weavile to use Hail to make it harder for them to break out of the ice.

"Get us out of here right now!" Max yelled.

"Yeah, and call off the Hail, it's cold!" Brock shivered.

Paul looked them up and down and said, "Nah, I prefer you this way."

Gary turned back to them. "I know you want to take your beloved Pokémon back, including that Manaphy and Jirachi, but my advice, don't. But, I wouldn't mind seeing another one of you being dragged away to prison like Misty. It's pretty entertaining, you see."

"Misty was innocent!" May yelled, struggling against the ice, but to no avail.

"And you have no right to tell us what to do." Trip added, also struggling, but the ice wouldn't budge.

"Maybe not, but Champion Red sure can, since he rules this region and whatever he says, goes. And not to mention that you might pay for betraying Ash sooner than you think."

"What do you mean by that?" Max shouted. "We didn't betray him, we just wanted to tell him the truth!"

"Yes, yes, keep telling yourself that." Gary waved dismissively.

"And if you excuse us, we have a lecture to attend." Paul said.

"So later, losers!" Gary laughed, as both left, ignoring the shouts to let them go.

"How long do you think it'd take for someone to hear them?" Gary asked Paul.

"Even with their loud voices, I doubt anyone would hear them. After all, I intentionally led them there. According to Ash, it's a pretty remote area, and it's a good place to train your Pokémon in private….but they don't know it." Paul laughed. "And since they are far into the forest, even if they do break free, they'll be lost for hours."

"Luckily, Ash told us of a shortcut." Gary grinned.

"Which is why we can pull this off." Paul snickered, as they exited the forest relatively quickly.

* * *

'Now I know how therapists feel.' Ash sighed. He had decided to get to know his traded Pokémon, and first decided to deal with their emotional baggage they may have with their previous trainers. He was now currently listening to what Goodra had to say about the previous trainer, and apparently, the previous trainer didn't like the fact that Goodra was always hugging her, since it always covered her in sticky slime, while the other traded Pokémon were playing with his Pokémon. He checked the list, and saw that Goodra was the twentieth Pokémon he listened to today.

Ash mentally shook his head when he heard Goodra's problem, not shaking his head for Goodra, but shaking his head for the previous trainer, as it's normal for a Goodra to hug their Trainer, since they are very friendly and it's in their nature.

"**Doesn't my Trainer like me? Why doesn't she like to hug me?" **Goodra wailed.

Ash couldn't bear to tell him the truth, and said soothingly, "Don't cry, Goodra. Here, have a Poképuff." Ash offered Goodra one of Pakura's Poképuffs. Goodra glumly accepted, and ate the treat. He brightened up in an instant.

"**Hey, these are delicious!" **Goodra exclaimed, and out of habit, began hugging Ash. Ash stayed where he was, since he knew he had been covered in things far worse than slime (such as blood. Not his, but other people's blood)

Goodra expected Ash to push him away like his previous Trainer, and waited for the outburst, but surprisingly there were none.

"**You like me hugging you?" **Goodra asked in surprise.

"It's in your nature as a Goodra. I think we shouldn't oppose nature. Besides, I'm used to my Pokémon showing affection to me all the time. Isn't it right, Meganium?"

The said Pokémon turned her head towards Ash, and excitedly ran towards him. Ash focused his aura on his feet so he wouldn't be knocked off his feet, and opened his arms for a hug, where Meganium happily accepted.

"**That's right." **Meganium replied, nuzzling Ash's head affectionately.

"See?" Ash said to Goodra. "There's really nothing wrong about showing affection."

Goodra blinked, before hugging Ash again. Ash could feel the happiness being radiated from Goodra.

"Now, why don't you go play with the others? I'm sure they'll welcome you." Ash nodded towards the traded Pokémon and his Pokémon. Goodra nodded and went over to join the others.

"Now the next Pokémon is…..Delphox! Could you come here a moment, please?" Ash called out, his pen and paper ready to take down notes.

The said Pokémon looked up from talking his fellow Psychic Pokémon, nodded, and headed over to him.

"Now, could you tell me how life was like under your new trainer? Take your time, we're in no hurry here." Ash requested kindly.

And the next Pokémon therapy session began.

* * *

"I swear the regional trainers a less compassionate than the ones in PAL." Ash muttered, looking down at his notes, which he recorded all the traded Pokémon's issues. "It's either the Trainer doesn't like the Pokémon's Shiny appearance, having problems with overly-affectionate Pokémon, sure maybe it'll cause some trouble, but hey, at least they want to show that they love their Trainers, they have some traumatic encounter with poachers and the Trainer asks them to go against poachers not knowing their story, or the Trainers weren't respectful with them so they were as disrespectful back, which gives issue to the obedience part. Why can't those trainers take their time to listen to their Pokémon's problems instead of just trading them away? Those Pokémon have feelings too! They are not some mindless machine built for battling!"

Ash sighed for the umpteenth time, as there were only a handful that had no problems with their previous Trainers, but their Trainers had really wanted a Tauros, and their Pokémon had understood. Even so, Ash had to comfort them as they missed their Trainer.

"**Well said, Ash." **A voice said.

Ash turned to see his new Dragonite behind him. He floated down to sit down next to him.

"Hello, Dragonite." He consulted his notes, and saw that Dragonite was one of those who disobeyed their Trainer, which was why he was traded away. "I thought you were testing your skills with my Garchomp."

"**I lost, despite the fact that I was in an advantage." **Dragonite seemed embarrassed.

"Hey, no need to be embarrassed." Ash replied with a smile. "Charizard himself lost to a Froslass."

"**He did?" **Dragonite was surprised.

"Unexpected things do happen in battles. What matters is that you learn from them, Dragonite."

"**That's true. Thanks for listening to me earlier." **

"No problem. You're one of the new members of my family, I want to get to know all of you better, and all your problems are mine to, and as a friend, I have to help you out. I'll go check on the rest, alright?" Dragonite nodded, as Ash went off

'He's different from my previous Trainer, who doesn't tolerate disrespect, and he understands Pokéspeech. At least I have someone to talk to.' Dragonite thought, as Ash was currently talking to Milotic, another Pokémon who were traded away because of the ugly appearance as a Feebas, and trying to force her to evolve by training her so hard, barely giving her a rest .

When Ash talked to her during the so-called therapy session, he told her that he thought she was already beautiful, since beauty comes from the heart, not by their appearance, and that she could take her time to evolve, since he's not in a hurry, and after that sent her to play with his Pokémon who welcomed her with open arms and played with her. Touched by her new friends and Trainer, she evolved into Milotic while having a training battle with Blastoise.

Ash reviewed his notes to get a clear picture on the personalities of each of his new Pokémon, and the problems they had with their previous trainers. He was so engrossed he didn't notice Pikachu until Pikachu used Nuzzle on him, giving him a shock.

"What the heck, Pikachu?" Ash yelped.

"**You know, you were so engrossed, you didn't know Rosaline's lecture is almost starting?" **

Ash checked the time, and yelped. "Oh shoot!" and started returning everyone (except Pikachu and Lucario) to their Pokéballs after explaining quickly what he had to do, and then he teleported out of his secret clearing.

* * *

"You're late." Phillip said when Ash finally arrived. "The audience had already arrived." He nodded to the crowd of people sitting in the Lecture Hall, some of them being the regional Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions.

"Sorry." Ash replied. He was about to go to Cynthia, who was chatting with her Elites to ask where she had been when a voice said, "Cynthia was with me just now."

Ash turned in surprise to see Pakura there.

"Why would she be with you?" he asked, puzzled.

"She wanted to spend some time with me for some reason." Pakura shrugged.

Ash shrugged, seeing nothing wrong with it. As far as he was concerned, Pakura was his most trusted person, and she had never lied to him. So why would she lie now?

"And I don't see why we have to stand in front here." Phillip muttered, feeling embarrassed at being stared. He was clutching to Emolga for comfort.

"Let's just say Rosaline is a rather nervous speaker, and she might need our support." Jude gave a wry smile. "Isn't it right, Espeon?"

"**That's right!" **

Jude scanned the crowd, and saw Cilan, and Iris sitting alone, wondering where Trip, Max, May and Brock were.

Rosaline now had hold of the microphone, and looked at Ash, who nodded to her, and that gave her the courage to ask for everyone's attention.

"Today's lecture would be on the History of PAL, and how it came to be." Rosaline announced, as the audience clapped, eager to hear how PAL, the biggest, richest, and most nature-rich (which attracted a lot of Pokémon to their region) had come to be. The other three PAL Elite members were standing silently by her side, ready to assist if necessary.

Rosaline cleared her throat, and started her story. "PAL used to be an unnamed developing region, I admit, with little Pokémon, and the people that time didn't go on their Pokémon journeys until they were 15, due to the lack of Pokémon available for a starter Pokémon. But the people that time didn't care, as long as they got to go, and have their Pokémon by their side always."

She paused, before continuing, "But fires, hurricanes, and tornados, and encroaching seas took their toll, their resources were used up trying to save the citizens, and brutal wars broke out as people fought for the remaining resources. The earth was scarred and desolate, the people terrified and hopeless."

Rosaline paused again, before going on with the story. "But there was one guy, who used clever means to take over as the ruler of this unnamed region, and introduced collectivisation and industrialisation, where they sought to produce more food and better technology by huge labour from the citizens, working for 24/7, and having to come to work even if they're sick, for they'll be fired or executed if they fail to show up. Although it succeeded, millions of people died. And there was a decree that only the ruler may own more than one Pokémon. If a person was seen with more than one, the person is killed immediately. Their Pokémon was also tied up, and the ruler would let loose his own Pokémon on the restrained Pokémon, and use many attacks until the restrained Pokémon dies. It became almost some sort of sport."

The audience gasped in horror and shock.

"How could this ruler be so cruel?" Phoebe gasped in horror.

"This person is real sick. If I saw him, I think I'll best him up without hesitation." Marshal commented.

"Now I know why it's an attend-at-your-own-risk lecture." Erika nodded.

"It was a difficult time as well, for if one spoke up against him, he'll get his secret police to take the said person away the same night, never to be seen again. Secret polices also get the citizens for being the first person to stop clapping at the ruler's speeches, or telling jokes at his expense. The people lived in fear that the secret police may go after them next."

The audience gasped again, and started whispering to each other. Some of the others looked sick at the way PAL was ruled before.

"The thing is, there was this loyal comrade of this ruler, he was told by the citizens how much they hate the ruler, and he was told by the people to overthrow him, but being loyal to him, he immediately went to report to the leader instead. Not only did those who planned it died, the informer, the loyal comrade, died as well. There were rumours that the secret police interrogated them until they broke down pleading guilty, and sometimes, the ones interrogated were innocent. The ruler used psychology to get them to admit it, like torturing their family, or worse, their Pokémon." Rosaline went on.

The audience were silent, waiting for the next part of the story.

"One day, the ruler was assassinated, a simple shot to the head by someone. This assassin forcibly took over as the new ruler, and the people were in fear of him, thinking he may be the same as the others. Instead, this person was kind, and got help from the other regions, instead of being prideful like the last one. Not only did he allow the citizens to own as many Pokémon as they want, he also set up a lab that is run by a Professor to take care of their Pokémon should they have too many and wish to find a place where their Pokémon would be cared for." Rosaline said with a smile.

"I wonder if I can get her lectures on CD." Agatha laughed, as Lorelei glared at her.

'It's tape only.' Ash thought. 'And it's $19.95. (2000 Pokédollars)' He silently chucked at that memory, but stopped when he realized at that time, Misty was his friend.

"He also introduced Pokémon that he brought from other regions here, offering his help to citizens in planting greenery, so that the Pokémon could come and relax here, while at the same time, making use of the modern technology they already had and upgraded them into something else. He also encouraged them to give him their ideas, which he tried their best to make it into reality." Rosaline's voice snapped him out of his past.

The audience sighed in relief, as there was a happy turn at last.

"His name was Pierce Alexander Lane. He was nicknamed 'Pal' by everyone because of his kindness to everyone, and the acronym of his name is "P.A.L" and he was often seen giving love to his Pokémon. They decided to name the region after his name, using the same three letters as an acronym for their region. They decided to use Pokémon as P and Love as L, for the love he had given everyone. A stood for Awakens, because the Pokémon they had not only protected them, but they got those who had nothing to learn to love."

"So that was how PAL came to be." Lucian nodded. "This is interesting."

"They also made the rule of not to harm Pokémon or their environment due to the love they gave, and how they helped some others recover from the traumatising reign of the terrifying leader, and agreed whoever did this would be executed. They also decided to set up their own Elite Four, and have high standards of the members they select, to set an example on how they had risen from the ashes. Due to this, the Elite weren't complete until two years ago." Rosaline explained. "The citizens also decided to let the Elite Four be in charge of the region in addition to their Elite Four positions. But the citizens also decided that whoever is the strongest of the Elite Four, namely the Champion or the Leader, would be given the title of 'Prince/Princess', practically giving them the power to rule the PAL region. So PAL is actually a principality."

Lance inwardly groaned. So Pakura's nickname wasn't just a nickname. No wonder everyone listened to everything she says. But then, what about the Dragon Princess? He made a mental note to ask her later.

"The public even got their ruler to set up a Hunters' Association to protect Pokémon and help other regions, as appreciation to their help in their time of need when asked. These Hunters were also tasked to take care of the poachers, and is given the power to kill." Rosaline said. "PAL decided to work behind the shadows to help the other regions, which is why you did not know that we, being famous for other stuff, that we were also the members of the PAL Elite."

Ash could tell Rosaline wanted to say more, but she decided not to say anything, for some weird reason. He had the feeling that the rest of the History had something to do with the other four members, and they must've kept it quiet from him so as to not let him worry. But why?

"No wonder we didn't know they were PAL Elites as well until they told us." Karen said to Will, looking at Jude in particular, who in turn was not even looking at her, instead he was looking between Cilan and Purrloin.

"Why are you staring at Jude?" Will asked, puzzled.

"Oh, am I?" Karen turned to look at Will.

"Er...never mind." Will sweatdropped.

'I wonder if I should let this go out in a bang.' Jude thought, looking at Cilan and back to his Purrloin. 'I think I shall.' With that, the room suddenly gone dark. So dark that they couldn't even see their hands.

"Hey! What's going on?" One member of the audience shouted.

"Is it some kind of joke?" Another asked.

Ash sighed. Jude must've used his ability to cloud everything into total darkness. Only he could see in the dark since he had the night vision ability. He heard Pakura sigh from the corner where she chose to skulk at during the entire lecture with her Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee.

'Jude, stop playing and undo your ability!' Ash used telepathy to talk to Jude.

'Sorry!' Jude replied, though he didn't sound that sorry, and cancelled his ability, which made the room bright again. The audience blinked at the sudden brightness of the room.

"What just happened?" Drake asked.

"Well, I think it may be a technical fault." Ash replied. "Phillip, could you go check it out?" He shot a look at Phillip, and Phillip knew from the look on Ash's face that it was no technical fault, but he played along anyway.

"Oh sure! I'll go check!" With that, he left the Lecture Hall to check on the lighting. (Translation: He was going to mentally prepare for his dinner with Jasmine, since he had to go alone)

Ash heard a few whimpers, and realised that Purrloin was no longer on Jude's shoulder. He looked around, and found the said Pokémon sitting on Cilan's head and looking down in his eyes.

'3….2…..1….' Ash thought.

As soon as he thought of "1", a high-pitched scream echoed throughout the Lecture Hall. Even those in the PAL General Hospital could hear the screams (The Lecture Hall is located next to the PAL General Hospital)

* * *

"I swear my hearing was going to go for one moment." Ash said to Cynthia, as they walked back to the Tower. "His screams were so loud."

"I wonder why Cilan was so scared of Purrloin, though." Cynthia wondered.

Ash snickered. "You see, when Cilan was just a little boy, he was just on the way home from buying groceries for his brothers, when a stray Purrloin started following him, you see. Cilan noticed this Purrloin following him, and started to play with it, only to find that the Purrloin was after the groceries that he bought, and when Cilan tried to get them back, the Purrloin attacked him, and took off with the groceries. Ever since, whenever he saw a Purrloin, he thought it's going to attack him like that first Purrloin."

"Sounds traumatic." Cynthia said, a little sarcastically, as they entered the elevator.

They stepped into the quarters just in time to see Ash's three Elites (along with Grimsley) with their Pokémon watching TV, and Pakura was nowhere to be seen.

"**Hey, Rosaline! Good job on the lecture!"** Pikachu called.

Rosaline turned to see Ash, Cynthia, Pikachu and Lucario, and she smiled her thanks.

Ash reached the sitting room just in time to see Pakura on TV. She was currently addressing a room full of reporters at what looked like one of the press conference rooms located somewhere between the PAL's General Hospital and the Plaza. She was going, "I would just like to say that none of this would be happening if Leader Misty would publicly admit her culpability of breaking into our penthouse, and accepted her charges to the said crime."

"It looks like she had to address this issue." Jude nodded. "Ash, you missed Pakura showing them the two videos of them breaking in the penthouse and Misty being arrested. There's no mistake on their faces in the footage." He looked like as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, he was that pleased about this.

"As proof of this claim." Pakura said, holding up a copy of _The PAL Times_, where Pakura had mentioned this morning that their article had made it into the paper. "I offer this editorial written by Champion Red himself."

That bewildered Ash. Why would Pakura give him all the credit when she was the one who wrote it? He listened as Pakura calmly read the article out loud, as the reporters were in awe of how well Ash could write.

"You wrote pretty well, Ash." Cynthia complimented.

"Me?" Ash spluttered. "Paku wrote most of it!"

"But she said it was written by you only." Grimsley looked confused, pointing to the TV.

"Pakura stayed up late just to write this. I only added a few points here and there." Ash shook his head. Why would she give him all the credit?

* * *

Max, May, Brock and Trip were sitting in front of the fireplace in their Pokemon Center room, wrapped in blankets and drinking some hot cocoa. It took around an hour for the Hail to stop, and three hours for the ice to melt enough for them to get out.

Max, with his hands shaking, go the remote, to turn on the TV to distract themselves from the cold. Only the last channel they were turned to were the news channel, which was where the press conference was currently filmed live.

"I'm going to kill her!" May yelled, forgetting about being cold, as she heard Pakura saying something about Misty having to go on trial tomorrow, after being in Hunter custody for a day. "We've got to stop the trial! You can't give a trial to an innocent person!"

"If she's innocent, she'll be out for sure." Brock said confidently.

"But we'll still attend just in case, although we can't say anything in her defence." Trip nodded.

"Yes, I think she'll win this case." Max agreed. "By tomorrow, we'll have Misty back with us again." But deep inside, Paul and Gary's words have gotten to him. Jirachi, his friend, was under the Champion's ownership. He'll make Champion Red hand over that Jirachi if it was the last thing he does. Oh, and hand over Manaphy for May as well, since she's Manaphy's rightful mama, not Cynthia.

* * *

Misty was rather miserable at the moment. One moment, she was enjoying herself with her friends in the region, and the next, confined to some room in the Hunter's Associations. It could've been a standard hotel room, though, since it was clean and done in colors of cream and beige. In it were a bed, a closet with a few clothing, a chest of drawers, and a bookshelf with a few books in it, a small TV (only turned to the news channel) and a desk with a computer. There was a small bathroom attached to the room.

Once in a while, a chambermaid would come with some food, exchange the dirty clothes for a clean one, clean the room, or refill the soap and shampoo but other than that, Misty doesn't have company from anyone, not even her Pokémon, since the Hunters' Association has taken them away. There were iron bars installed at the window to prevent escape.

Bored, Misty decided to turn on the TV, and gasped when she saw the footage of them breaking into the penthouse. Their faces were unmistakable, and the reporter said that she would be on trial for this tomorrow, when Prince Red and Princess Pakura were free, and the reporter said that following the evidence, it was almost certain that she'd land in jail.

Out of anger, Misty threw the remote at the TV, breaking the screen, spoiling the TV altogether.

Footsteps approached, unlocked the door to her room, and the same man who arrested her that day appeared. She learned that his name is Alexander, as the woman Kendra had called him that when they first threw her into this room, and locked the door behind them.

Alexander sighed. "Misty, we'll have to add these to your charges. You're going to have to pay for the TV."

"How did you…?" Misty was puzzled as to how he got to her immediately after she broke it.

"In this room, you're under surveillance for 24/7." The man replied. "Started my way here the moment you threw that remote."

"You can't confine me here like I'm a criminal!" Misty shouted.

Alexander shook his head. "I'm afraid it's Prince Red's orders. Anyway, I called your sisters, and they agreed to help you. They'll be using the money that they earned from performing water ballet shows and the Gym funds to pay for the lawyer."

"Good." Misty huffed. "About time they hired a lawyer for me."

"Anyway your trial is in the afternoon considering how busy the Prince and Princess are." Alexander informed her.

"What do you mean busy? What could be more important than my trial? My trial should be first thing in the morning!" Misty demanded.

"For your information, the Champion and the Leader has duties to do as the Prince and Princess of PAL, not just being Elites of the host region, and not to mention that Princess Pakura has to judge the PAL Contest your little friends were kicked out of. Be grateful we didn't hold the trial after the Contest." With that he slammed the door, and locked it again.

Misty grumbled, as she sat down on the bed. She'll be out of this room tomorrow anyway.

Unbeknownst to her, a certain Prince has other ideas.

* * *

Daisy Waterflower's Pokégear rang. Sighing, she wondered if it was her manager wanting them to perform another ballet show for the audience. She picked up her phone, and said, "Hello?"

"…"

"Yes, this is she. Who is this?" Daisy enquired.

"…"

"Oh My God! The Red Satoshi is calling me? What an honour! Is there anything you want, my Prince?"

"…"

"She what? Why that little girl! She ought to be ashamed of herself for doing this to your region and to her friend. You can tell her to forget about us helping her. I think she deserves whatever would come to her." Daisy spat angrily.

"…"

"Yes, thank you for telling us, because I don't want to help a traitor."

"…"

"Have a good day too, bye!" Daisy greeted, before hanging up. After hanging up, she went to find Violet and Lily to tell them not to send the money to hire the lawyer for Misty.

* * *

Ash closed Pakura's recently purchased Pokégear that he had borrowed, and smirked.

"**Let's see how she gets out of this." **Pikachu said.

"Misty should learn that when I say she's going down, I MEAN she's going down." Ash nodded. He couldn't wait for the trial tomorrow afternoon.

**BP: And I'll end it here. Let me explain a few things as well. **

**First of all, how I wrote the History of PAL: the first part was where how Panem in the Hunger Games used to be the ruins of North America. And since the Pokémon World is a place that is really similar to Earth, but is a different planet of its own with people in it, and the planet itself resembles Earth, so the structure of PAL (in the real world map) would resemble Russia. **

**I chose Russia because of two reasons: The country is really big, and PAL is much bigger than the other regions (due to the fact that it supports all the regions known to the Pokémon World) and the fact that it's near Japan (at least that's what I saw in the World Map, and some of the regions are based on the provinces of Japan). I apologize if it offends you guys for me to base PAL's land on the Pokémon Wold map to resemble Russia. **

**The history written for the middle is actually part of the history that I actually learnt in history class when I was still in high school, and how Stalin managed to make Russia a more developed and advanced country, which lead to their victory in World War II against Germany. The rule of owning one ****Pokémon**** and the part about killing**** Pokémon, almost like some sort of sport**** is inspired from episode 7 of the Kuroshitsuji anime (season 1)**

**The third part is completely made up.**

**I want to tell my readers that there are two Arcs in this story: The Mysteries Arc and the Five Bosses Arc. We are currently in Season 1, which is the Mysteries Arc. Mysterypink98 would like to tell you all that there are no actual antagonists for this arc, because like mentioned in the story, the mysteries are actually linked to Pakura's backstory. **

**So the thing is, the clues they had so far were information on Pakura's past. And Pakura herself is helping and opposing them, making her an anti-hero, instead of an antagonist of this Arc (me and mysterpink98 has a few arguments whether Pakura is an anti-hero or an antagonist. I usually think she's an antagonist, but mysterypink98 would say she's an anti-hero. Mysterypink98 wins this argument, as ultimately, Pakura isn't a bad guy) **

**Anyway, I think I left enough hints as to who the Dragon Princess is, with that being said. I'll leave it up for you readers to guess who the Dragon Princess really is before I reveal the answer in a couple of chapters. Her real name has already been revealed from the very beginning. (Note: The Dragon Princess persona was all an act, and is actually an alter-ego. Her real personality is very well-known to all of you. I think this is a big clue to who she really is). **

**OK, I know you readers think Ash should be the most powerful person, and the Dragon Princess seemed to be more powerful than even him, remember, while it's true Ash is a powerful aura user in the story (his many abilities had not been revealed), the Dragon Princess had more experience (Ash only trained for at most four years), and the Prince transferred his powers to her, which was why she seemed more powerful than Ash at the moment. However, when the showdown between them occurs (future chapter), Ash would actually win. **

**Why did Ash seem like a jerk and a bit too vengeful? Well, let's just say he was (badly) influenced by Pakura during the four years. Since she was very revengeful (though it may not be obvious) and Ash spent the most time with her, some of her personality streaks were gained by him. **

**I want to say that I don't like the Team Rocket members at all and actually had no intention to make them good guys or put them in the story but mysterypink98 made me put them in and portray them as good guys because she liked them so much, and she didn't ask my opinion either. (sighs) But for my best friend, I'd put them in so to make her happy. **

**This also explains the reason why I never featured them as major characters, so which means they'll have less appearance than Paul and Gary, and somewhat fade in and out of the storyline, because I actually never intended for them to have major appearances, and usually put them in for comedic relief in the story.**

**The story of Cilan being scared of Purrloin is completely made up by me. **

**I know, but due to the number of words, I have to end the chapter like this and postpone Phillip's date with Jasmine to next chapter, and I think too many battles would be boring, so I ended up featuring only one round for the main characters, but with Cynthia's battle with Iris being shown as well. I'm very sorry if this chapter was not up to your standard, or if you feel that it is worse than the other seven chapters.**

**By the way, do you all know why Ash or his psychic legendaries was unable to detect the Dragon Princess reading his mind? Because she DIDN'T! She already knew all the facts stated in the chapter and me writing she read his mind is actually a deception. There would be a lot of deceptions in this chapter, and it's up to all of you to pick up on them!**

**Suggestions on the next chapter are always welcome! Here are some questions you might want to consider: **

**1\. Who should the Elites, Cynthia and Grimsley face in the Top 64 (other than the people mentioned that would fight in the Top 128. Jasmine, Gary and Paul won their matches against Brycen, Maylene, and Cress. You can decide for any Elite member, but the decision still lies in me and mysterypink98) **

**2\. Pairings in the story (For Jude and Pakura)**

**3\. Any traitors you want Paul, Gary, Tracey, or the Elites to battle in particular (outside of the tournament, since as you can see they usually foolishly challenge them to battle) **

**4\. Should Ash use Jirachi all the way, or use him as a third Pokémon against Max (I'm letting you decide this one)**

**5\. Who do you think is the Dragon Princess? And what do you think happened to her? And what do you think is the weapon? I'd like to hear some of your theories. **

**6\. I'm contemplating bringing those Pokémon abusers in the story (Damien and Shamus) so I can kill them off. Any thoughts? **

**7\. Like I said, the story is split into two Arcs: The Mystery Arc and the Five Bosses Arc. Do you want the Top 8 to happen during the Mysteries Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved after Top 8) or the Five Bosses Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved after Top 16, but before Top 8) Remember, this is crucial to the story! **

**8\. What should Misty's sentence be? And should Ash be the judge in the trial? **

**9\. How should the traitors react to the Misty being handed out her sentence? And how should the public react to the trial's conclusion since it is filmed live (including the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions that might have met them before)**

**10\. Any suggestions on how I can write the next chapter? (running out of ideas)**

**Anyway, give as many suggestions and reviews as possible! Do favourite and follow this story!**


	9. Shiki Kurobane, Attack at the Tower

**BP: Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews! First of all I apologize if Ash seemed a jerk. He was actually influenced by Pakura during the four years, who you know by now kills without hesitation and is very revengeful. And I know they seemed like murderers, but I assure you, all of them (ok except Pakura) only kills criminals or bad guys. And as for that scene where Ash told her to silence Lacey, he didn't say how to silence her so Pakura chose her own way to do it-by killing her. I wanted this to be more action packed, you see, and not just action by Pokémon. I want them to be able to protect Pokémon as well, not just Pokémon protecting them. I hope you all understand. **

**Some of the readers had figured out who the Dragon Princess is, so from this chapter onwards, she would be referred to by name instead. And I am pleasantly surprised when some expressed their theories, they were actually correct. One was even correct on what the aura-infused weapon actually is. Now why does Pakura hate the other three Elites? Well, it'll be explained when her backstory is told. **

**As for who's representing the Viridian Gym, it's actually Gary. I haven't mentioned it, but Gary became the Gym Leader just a few days before Ash was crowned Champion. Ash already knew of this fact, but he haven't stated it. Sorry about that. If I put Blue in, I realize I have to put Red (rival in games) in as well, but since Red doesn't exist in the story (because of Ash), I have no choice but to exclude him as well, and I replaced Blue with Gary instead. So Viridian Gym doesn't have any type specialty as well (just like Blue)**

**P.S: Diantha makes a very small cameo in this chapter, but since Kalos doesn't exist (at least not yet), there won't be a mention of her being Champion.**

"I'm back." Ash announced, as he returned to the couch, and sat down with his Elites at the TV, where they were just concluding the press conference.

"Where were you?" Cynthia asked.

"Had to make a phone call." Ash replied, holding up Pakura's Pokégear.

"Whose Pokégear is that?" Grimsley enquired, looking at the Pokégear.

"Oh, that's Paku's. She got a new one after Dawn destroyed hers." Ash explained. "She lent it to me for a while in case I need it."

"I see." Jude said. He then got up, stretching. "I got shop to run. See you." With that, he left via the elevator with his Purrloin.

Phillip muttered something unintelligible, and went back to his room with Emolga.

"What did he just say?" Rosaline asked.

"Don't ask me. Even I didn't catch it." Ash shrugged. "I'm going to get to know my traded Pokémon better, before Cynthia and I go for dinner together. Coming with me, Cynthia?"

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "No, I'll go to the library for a while."

Ash nodded. "There are information only available to Hunters, so you might need this." He handed her something that is similar to a credit card, but slightly thicker and with an inbuilt computer chip. The front shows Ash's Hunter rank (Triple Star), while the back has a magnetic strip with a serial number. Cynthia realized that this was Ash's Hunter License.

"Ash, but…"

"Cynthia, I trust you. I'm sure you'll make sure it's safe."

Cynthia nodded. "I'll see you at dinner." With that, she left the penthouse as well.

"And what are you two going to do?" He asked Grimsley and Rosaline.

"I think I'll work on the Dragon Duo case some more, but on the other hand, I need to pick up some sketchbooks back at the art supply store."

"How about I do it for you, Rosa?" Grimsley offered. Ash raised his eyebrows, hearing the nickname. Pikachu and Lucario looked at each other, wondering if they heard it right.

"Sure thing, thanks Grimsley." Rosaline smiled at him.

Ash shrugged, before taking all his Pokémon, and leaving the penthouse with Pikachu and Lucario.

* * *

'Now, before I go on my date with Ash, maybe I can find something in the library with the Hunter License Ash lent me.' Cynthia thought, as she sat in front of one of the computers, and searched some stuff about the Dragon Duo in the Hunter website (access was given thanks to the Hunter License lent by Ash. Cynthia thought it was very trusting of Ash, since she heard the License is a very valuable item that can be sold for a fortune.). She waved at Lucian, who was sitting at one of the couches with a pile of books, and sipped one of the smoothies she ordered from the library café and read the articles on the Dragon Duo. None of them even mentioned their names, and their faces were covered by their fringe, and the only thing she knew was that both had black hair.

She wondered if the Dragon Duo were actually born in PAL, since Ash said the PAL Elites were all from different regions, with Rosaline even being from Hearthome City back in Sinnoh, where she was the regional Champion, which meant that the Dragon Duo may have been from a different region as well.

'Maybe the Dragon Duo were born in a hometown with a history of Dragon Pokémon, which leaves Blackthorn City in Johto and the Village of Dragons in Unova. I'll start off with Blackthorn City.' Cynthia thought, as she clicked on the category labelled Blackthorn City. To her surprise, most of the names that came up had a D for Deceased next to it. She scrolled, and there were only 10 names that didn't have the letter D next to it, including Lance and Clair's.

'What happened to Blackthorn City? Does Ash mentioning the mystery in Blackthorn have something to do with the deaths of these people?' Cynthia wondered to herself, looking at the remaining 10 alive residents. She only recognized Lance's and Clair's names on the list, and some others, judging by the last names, could only mean that they are Lance and Clair's relatives, probably parents. Some others were probably children, based on the pictures when she clicked on them. And finally, she clicked on one that is labelled, "Shiki Kurobane".

Immediately, this profile interested her since according to his birthday, he was around the same age as Lance. And when she searched for information on his achievements, it said that he was the winner of the Lily of the Valley Conference, Silver Conference, Indigo Conference, Ever Grande Conference and Vertress Conference 5 years straight in a row, which was somewhat of a counterpart to Pakura's five Grand Festival wins in different regions straight in a row. There were praises in the article by the reporters, acknowledging that he'll go far. However, the latest article on him was his latest win on the Vertress Conference almost 6 years ago.

'That's weird. Why aren't they anything more about him after that? Wouldn't the reporters try to monitor his progress after him winning so many Conferences?' Cynthia thought, looking at the picture of Shiki smiling and holding the Vertress Conference trophy. Cynthia noted that this boy had black hair, just like the Prince. She had to admit that he was very handsome, messy black hair, and violet eyes, and we wore glasses that just adds to his good looks. Cynthia thought he probably had a lot of female fans.

'I think I'll put this Shiki Kurobane as the prime suspect for the identity of the Dragon Prince.' Cynthia thought, connecting the computer to the printer, and printing out all the articles on Shiki.

"What are you doing?" A voice asked. Cynthia choked on her smoothie, and turned around, to see Lance frowning at her.

"Oh, hey Lance." Cynthia greeted.

"Hi to you too. So, what are you doing?" Lance enquired, looking at the pieces of paper being churned out by the printer.

"Printing out some stuff which I thought might be of use to the Elites." Cynthia replied, as she erased the web history, and closed the browser.

Lance took the papers from the printer. "And why would you need articles on my childhood friend?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Wait, you knew Shiki?" Cynthia was surprised.

"Well, yeah, we were neighbours, and we played with each other ever since we were little. Clair didn't like him because she thought he was too outspoken, especially when he disagrees with the Elder's views." Lance replied. "But the Elders still adore him because he was a prodigy like me and Clair, but unlike us, he's part of a very rich aristocratic family in the Dragon Clan, which meant he had to take up various classes such as music, dancing, fencing and even swordsmanship, in addition to getting lessons on Dragon training from the Elders. Anyway, that still doesn't tell me why you need articles on Shiki."

"Well….I thought he might be the Dragon Prince."

"He isn't." Lance replied curtly. If Shiki was the Dragon Prince, the Princess would have told him a long time ago.

"How do you know?" Cynthia asked.

'I can't just straight out tell her I'm meeting the Dragon Princess. That would mean the PAL Elites would find her immediately.' Lance thought. "I would recognize my friend anywhere, we're childhood friends, remember?"

Cynthia frowned. "True, but I'll still bring these back to Ash, it might help him, who knows?"

"And how come you get to be roped in the top secret workings of the PAL Elites?" Lance asked.

"Because I'm dating Ash." Cynthia answered.

"Wait….you and Ash?" Lance sounded incredulous. "Since when do you go for younger guys?"

"I do when his name is Ash Ketchum." Cynthia was trying not to laugh at the look on Lance's face. "Anyway, although the Elites said not to tell anyone, since Ash's also investigating a mystery he said has something to do with you, I guess it won't hurt to tell you one titbit."

"And what is that?"

"Ash said something about the Cursed Child being still alive and mentioned that she might be somewhere in this region." Cynthia said. "I wonder what he meant by Cursed Child…" She trailed off when Lance's eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Lance, are you alright?"

"No….it can't be. Shiki saw Team Rocket take her away on a van one night nearly twenty years ago. She was only a toddler when she was given away. She couldn't have survived Team Rocket." Lance was shaking slightly. "I think the Elders didn't want anyone of impure blood to remain in Blackthorn, thus they gave her to Team Rocket when she was around a toddler."

"What do you mean?" Cynthia frowned.

"I mean, the girl was born on some one night stand involving one of the Dragon Clan members, and the Elders thought she wasn't pure Dragon Clan member, so they gave her to Team Rocket. If she managed to escape Team Rocket…."

"According to Ash, she might have killed your clan out of revenge." Cynthia put two-and-two together.

Lance looked at the floor, in deep thought. 'At first I thought the person did it out of malicious intent, and I was ready to charge the person once we find out who it was, but if it's out of revenge of what they did to her like Ash said, could I even bear to punish this person who probably suffered a lot? But Clair wants this person executed no matter what. What am I going to do?'

* * *

Ash sweatdropped as he heard Beartic's story. He was training Beartic with his Glalie, and to make it more difficult, he Mega Evolved his Glalie to increase Glalie's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, as Beartic liked a challenge. Apparently, his owner had him as a Cubchoo, and liked his cute form and wished for him to stay that way, but he wanted to be stronger, and evolved so that he would have chances against more powerful opponents, which caused his owner to be unhappy with him.

'The owner should've given him an Everstone if that's the case, or listen to what he wanted.' Ash thought, as he commanded Glalie to finish the battle off with Sheer Cold, and it hit Beartic, sending it flying towards a tree, and sliding it to the ground. The Mega Evolution wore off from Glalie and he turned back to normal.

"Beartic!" Ash ran over to his Pokémon. "You alright?"

"**I'm fine." **Beartic replied. **"Wow, Ash, this was a fun battle, you trained your Pokémon to be this powerful. I wish I'd be as strong as your Ice Pokémon someday." **

"Don't worry, you will." Ash assured him, and offered him a Sitrus Berry to recover his health, which Beartic ate gratefully. He looked down at his notes at the goals of each Pokémon. "Alright, it looks like Blaziken is next. Blaziken, could you come for a minute?"

The Shiny Blaziken looked up from playing with Ash's Fire-types, and walked over. He was one of the few that did not have any problem with their owner, just that the owner always wanted a Tauros, and when it was said the Tauros once belonged to the PAL Champion, it made the deal so much sweeter.

"So, I heard you want to learn Flare Blitz?"

Blaziken nodded.

"Alright, who do you want to teach you Flare Blitz?"

He looked around, before saying, **"Infernape." **

Ash nodded. "Alright….Infernape!" He called out to his Flame Pokémon.

The said Pokémon came over. **"Yes, Ash? What do you need of me?" **

"This guy here wants to learn Flare Blitz. Could you teach him?" Ash requested.

"**Of course!" **Infernape nodded.

"Oh and before you start." Ash fed Blaziken a spicy Poképuff specifically for Fire-types, which Blaziken enjoyed very much. "Don't give up, Blaziken. I know you can learn this move." Ash looked at the Poképuff supply, and noted that it is running low, and made a mental note to get Pakura to make some more. Blaziken smiled, and nodded, as he went off with Infernape to train.

"**You're always getting Pokémon who already know the moves to train those who don't know. Pretty good idea, Ash." **Pikachu complemented, as Buneary was clinging to his arm.

"Well, yeah. I figured it's better to have fellow Pokémon peers to help instead of me, and besides, it increases the bond between my Pokémon better. I can't afford them to have a feud now, can I?" Ash replied, as Mew, who was flying around to play with Pokémon, landed on his head, tickling him with its tail.

Ash started laughing. "Mew, that tickles, stop!" Ash eventually lost his balance, and fell, as the other Pokémon started laughing. Ambipom was clapping her tail hands in glee.

Ash chuckled, as he took out his notes once more, however, Kingdra tried to use Hydro Pump on Samurott, who dodged, and the Hydro Pump hit Ash, soaking him and running the notes.

Ash stared at his ruined notes in silence, and looked at Kingdra with an unreadable expression.

"**Ash! I'm so sorry!" **Kingdra whimpered, thinking she'd get a scolding for this since her previous owner didn't like her playful nature, since she tended to soak everything with Hydro Pump when she played, thus the trade.

Surprisingly, Ash smiled. "It's fine. Just be careful when you play. I have an extra set of notes anyway." The thing is, Ash had very good memory power, something he had discovered during those four years. He first discovered it when Pakura was quizzing him on the Pokémon known in PAL. Not only did she quiz him on the name, she quizzed him on their types (he had to say whether it's a primary type or secondary type for dual types), which other region is this Pokémon usually found, and if this Pokémon can Mega Evolve. Of course, thanks to this training, he actually had the notes memorised, but still preferred it written down.

Just then, his CommuniDex rang, and he read the message from Jude, saying that Cynthia had passed some articles to him earlier on this guy called Shiki Kurobane, who she suspected may be the actual identity of the Dragon Prince. He got up, returned his Pokémon, explaining things, before teleporting back to the Tower with Pikachu and Lucario.

* * *

"He won five conferences in a row?" Ash was reading the articles Cynthia had printed out.

"Apparently so." Jude nodded.

"Wow, he must've been a powerful Trainer." Ash commented, as he only got in to the semi-finals at best during the Lily of the Valley Conference, and most other times were Top 8 back when he was plain Ash Ketchum.

Now, however, he was sure he can wipe out all the other Trainers should he participate in a Conference, but what is the point, since he's the Prince and Champion of the PAL region, the region everyone dreams to live in?

"Yeah, and apparently from a very powerful family. He had to take dancing, music, fencing, and swordsmanship classes besides Dragon training."

"Well, that's classes that is typically given to noble boys, so I am not surprised. Which city did he come from?" Ash asked, as he noted that Shiki had black hair, just like the Prince.

"Blackthorn City. According to Cynthia, he's around Lance's age. Lance told her that they were childhood friends, but he thought Shiki couldn't be the Dragon Prince since he'd know if this Shiki guy was the Prince in the first place." Jude informed him.

"Well, that's true, since Lance and Shiki are childhood friends. But don't Clair know him too?" Ash was puzzled.

"Well Lance told Cynthia that Clair never liked Shiki, since he was a bit too open with his hate for the Elders of the Dragon Clan." Jude shrugged "Oh, and also, the Dragon Princess is a toddler when she was given away."

"So that would make the Dragon Princess in her early twenties by now." Ash calculated in his mind.

"Maybe." Jude said, as he turned on the TV, since it was time for the announcement of the match-ups for tomorrow.

The same news reporter were commenting that every match that happened today were very intense, and after the matches, the Top 64 are out. The board came up with the competitors' faces, and Ash noted that he's up against Max, Pakura's up against Aaron, Phillip's up against Bruno, Jude's up against Cilan (much to Ash's amusement and disappointment), Rosaline's up against Will, Cynthia's up against Caitlin, Grimsley's up against Sidney, and Jasmine's against Erika. Gary and Paul are up against Liza and Tate respectively. Ash knew for a fact that both had to fight separately, and wondered how they would fare individually.

"It's almost time for my date. Jude, I'll leave Pikachu and Lucario in your care, since Paku is unavailable."

Jude nodded, as Ash left to prepare himself.

* * *

"You're going on a date?" Ash asked incredulously, when he came out of his room in a dark shirt, and black jacket and matching pants. He was all dressed for his date with Cynthia, when he saw Phillip coming out of his room at the same time in a white shirt with black sleeves, and casual jeans. Rosaline was probably still in her room trying to search for some clues that may lead to the Princess and the Prince's identity, most likely with Grimsley.

Somehow, Phillip managed to stammer out, "I guess so?"

"What do you mean you guess so?" Ash frowned.

"I told Jasmine I would make up to her for shouting and running away from her when we first met, and uh…she said to take her out to dinner, and show up alone…" Phillip trailed off, not sure what to say.

"Then it's a date." Ash said, giving Phillip a funny look.

"I don't know. She never said she'd show up alone." Phillip muttered. "I don't really want to deal with a crowd."

"Just be yourself. You're pretty likable after all." Ash assured him. "Anyway, going out is how people get to know each other. Jasmine is a pretty sweet girl."

"What if she ends up like Jude's ex?" Phillip said, a hint of disgust in his voice.

"She won't." Ash insisted. "I met her before, I should know. Now we better go meet our dates before they have a bone to pick with us for being late."

Phillip reluctantly nodded. "Fine, if she turns out like Jude's ex, I'm holding you liable."

"Ok, fine." Ash rolled his eyes, as he stepped in the arriving elevator with Phillip, and they zipped towards to the lobby.

Cynthia was already sitting at one of the couches in the lobby, waiting for Ash. She was wearing a strapless red sparkly dress she bought from her shopping spree, with a darker red sash that was strapped onto her dress with a red heart shaped button. She was also wearing matching flats. Ash smiled upon seeing his beautiful girlfriend.

"You look amazing, as always." Ash greeted her with a kiss to the lips. Phillip looked away, feeling awkward.

"I could say the same for you." Cynthia grinned.

"Hello, Phillip." A voice said.

"Oh no." Phillip whispered.

The three of them turned to see Jasmine wearing a sweet pea pink lace dress, and wearing adorable velvet flats, quite a difference from the usual pale green dress Ash knew she always wore.

Phillip gulped. He had to admit she looked good in that dress. He noted that she came alone, which meant…. 'Oh please no.' Phillip thought.

"How do I look?" Jasmine asked Phillip.

"You look…" Phillip couldn't get the word out. "Look…..look….."

Cynthia sighed, as she watched Jasmine's face getting slightly more crestfallen every time Phillip stalled to say what he thought. "For Arceus' sake, just spit it out!"

"Great!" Phillip shouted the word, being scared by Cynthia suddenly speaking up.

Jasmine blinked in surprise. "I do?"

Phillip swallowed. "Yeah, you do." He internally prayed that the date would last a short time and he can get back to the Tower and go think up of new things he can invent or something in the relative privacy of his room.

"Er….should we go?" Phillip asked, tentatively holding out a hand, which Jasmine gratefully took, and they exited the Tower.

Ash and Cynthia looked at each other, amused at the scene. "Shall we go too?" Ash asked.

Cynthia smiled, as they locked arms, and left the Tower as well.

* * *

"Cilan and Iris are a couple?" Ash said incredulously, as they walked in a restaurant called Pierce's Cuisines, a five-star restaurant, named after the man who changed PAL for the better. As they walked in, every man there glared at Ash, wondering how he got the beautiful Champion to go with him on a date, since popularity wise (not counting the PAL Elites), Cynthia was one of the most popular female. On the other hand, the women there were glaring at Cynthia, wondering how she got the Prince and Champion of PAL to take her on a date.

"When I was lunching with Pakura, I saw them from the window, they were showing public displays of affection." Cynthia replied, as a waitress led them to a table. Cynthia could swear the waitress looked like she was about to kill her, and she distinctly heard the waitress mutter something about "lucky bitch" and "Why can't it be me"

Ash inwardly frowned at the words the waitress said, since he could hear her. He wouldn't put it past her to put something in their food and drinks. But thanks to his training, he has a very keen sense of taste, so he should be able to taste if there's anything foreign inside the food and drink, even if it was tasteless to a normal person. He inwardly prayed that nothing happened, because it would be bad if the incident reached Pakura's ears.

"What do you guys want to order?" The waitress asked, giving Ash the Deerling eyes, and bending down in such a way that part of her cleavage can be seen.

"I'll have steak frites, please." Ash replied to the waitress while looking at Cynthia.

"Alright. And you?" There was a sarcastic tone to the latter question.

"The same please." Cynthia replied with equal sarcasm, as if to say "He's mine, you whore; so don't even try."

Ash inwardly sighed at the tone he picked up from the waitress. It's always like that, fans thinking they had a chance just because they love them for their looks, talents and titles. Why couldn't they see that that wasn't the love they wanted?

The waitress left to get their orders, but not before winking at Ash and mouthing, "If you're tired of her, call me."

If looks could kill, the waitress would've been dead a thousand times over, as Cynthia was practically burning holes on the back of the waitress' head.

"Well, I guess opposites attract in Cilan and Iris' case." Ash attempted to get her to take her mind off the waitress.

"Meaning?" Cynthia asked, turning back to face Ash.

"I know both of them, since I travelled with them. To me, Cilan is a posh Connoisseur, rather poised and calm, and on the other hand, Iris is a wild girl, doing things at her own pace, and has some sort of fiery passion about her. Those two sort of have to be together, I guess." Ash shrugged.

"You have a point." Cynthia nodded. She then started telling Ash about her pouring sugar in Iris' hair, and Iris' reaction, and Ash laughed when he heard the story.

"Speaking of sugar, there was this one time Jude swapped the sugar and the salt into the other container. So Phillip and Rosaline ended up putting salt in their coffees and they both spat it out immediately after they took a sip. You should've seen the look on their faces when they drank their beverage."

"Why weren't you and Pakura affected?" Cynthia asked, laughing at the story.

"I haven't started drinking coffee at that time, and Paku never puts anything in her coffee." Ash explained. "And then the prank war started between Jude, Phillip and Rosaline. It didn't last long because Paku threw them in the dungeon for 2 weeks for wrecking the mansion in the process."

"What's the dungeon?" Cynthia enquired, curious.

"It's a really scary and dark room located at the basement. And it's very cold as well, so the PAL Elites are usually punished by being locked in there. All of us, including me, have been locked in at least once at some point. The only one who hasn't been locked in yet was Paku."

"What were you locked in for?"

Ash gulped. "When I was doing target practice with my throwing knives, I accidentally cut myself, and I grabbed a huge cloth and wiped the blood off. The cloth turned out to be a fancy gold silk Paku was supposed to bring to her dress designer to make a new gown for her, and by the time she found out, the blood has dried on the silk, which made it difficult to remove. Paku was really mad, since it took her a long time to acquire the cloth, and she didn't get extra, so she locked me in the dungeon for it." Ash shuddered as he remembered what being locked in the dungeon felt like.

Just then, their orders arrived, and Ash stopped Cynthia, before starting to taste her food to check for any foreign "ingredients".

"What are you doing?" Cynthia asked.

"Testing for any foreign things in our food." Ash replied, before testing his own food, which didn't taste strange. "Ok, there's nothing in our food. Go on and eat."

As they ate, they started talking about various topics, such as whether or not Brycen would return to act in the movie called The Game of Ice, which was the sequel to the first movie Enter the Beartic, which he was the star of, how much Diantha, the famous travelling actress, rocks, Jude and Elesa's modelling show, the PAL Contest with Pakura as a judge, and Rosaline's lecture. Ash and Cynthia never ran out of things to say to one another.

They somehow got to the topic of the tournament, and if the PAL Elites were defeated, who would be the one to defeat them. While both agreed that only the regional Champions stood a chance, Ash thought Lance would defeat Jude, since type wise, Lance had the advantage. But Cynthia said that Water type Pokémon can also learn Ice type moves, which were bad for Lance, since his Pokémon are Dragon-types, which Ash agreed it was a fair point. Cynthia expressed that Alder might not be able to defeat any of the Elites, since while he doesn't have a type specialty, he was one of the weakest Champions, a sentiment which Ash agreed to.

"That's true." Ash replied to Cynthia's opinion. "And I think Rosaline would be defeated by Wallace, if they were matched up together, since he has the advantage."

"So who would defeat Phillip?" Cynthia asked.

Ash looked at her as if it was obvious, and said, "You, of course."

"Me?" Cynthia was surprised.

"Oh yes, you are a very powerful Champion, I daresay you are the strongest regional Champion. However, no offense Cynthia, Paku is too powerful for you. Even I had a hard time against her, and I'm supposed to be the strongest Champion."

"Oh? So you think you're the strongest here?" Cynthia asked playfully.

"Maybe." Ash said in a sing-song voice.

"Then you wouldn't mind proving it to me, on a one-on-one battle." Cynthia declared as she finished her meal, and stood up.

Ash nodded. "Very well." He said, as he flashed his Hunter License to the approaching waitress which meant he didn't need to pay for the meal, though he still paid them a tip of 2000 Pokédollars.

They walked to an empty clearing where they could have their one-on-one battle.

"Garchomp, battle dance!" Cynthia sent out her strongest Pokémon.

"Sylveon, lend me your aura!" Ash sent out the Fairy Eeveelution.

"Don't hold back, Ash." Cynthia called out.

Ash shrugged "If you say so. Now, ladies first."

"Garchomp, start things off with Toxic!" Garchomp obeyed, and fired an intense amount of poisonous substance at Sylveon, since Ash mentioned once Fairy is weak to Poison.

Ash simply made eye contact with Sylveon, and Sylveon effectively dodged the attack. Sylveon was now behind Garchomp.

'What? But Ash didn't even say anything.' Cynthia thought. "Garchomp, Earthquake!"

Ash gave a single nod, and Sylveon jumped just as Garchomp created the Earthquake, effectively avoiding it.

'Ash and his Sylveon can understand each other by mere eye contact?' Cynthia thought, taken aback. 'Just how deep are their bonds?'

'Sylveon, use Shadow Ball.' Ash telepathically told Sylveon. Sylveon jumped, and opened his mouth, charging a Shadow Ball, and hitting Garchomp effectively.

"Garchomp, use Surf!"

'Iron Tail!' Ash mentally commanded. Sylveon used his tail to cut the wave in half, which sent Garchomp towards the ground. 'Now, use Attract!' Sylveon winked, and pink hearts came out, which surrounded Garchomp. Since Garchomp was female, she became infatuated with Sylveon.

"Wait…..Sylveon is a male?" Cynthia couldn't believe that such a cute and girly-looking Pokémon can be male.

"Yeah, remember it used to be an Eevee, so there are more male Sylveon than female ones." Ash replied. 'Now, use Draining Kiss!'

Sylveon went over to Garchomp, and kissed her, effectively draining her energy and recovering his at the same time.

Before Cynthia could react, Ash mentally commanded Sylveon to use Hyper Beam. Sylveon obeyed, and instead of being orange, this Hyper Beam is pink. The Hyper Beam hit before Garchomp could react, sending her to the ground. Garchomp got up, groaning.

'Hey, not bad. Not many Dragon Pokémon can still stand after being hit by that Hyper Beam. I guess that's why Cynthia is the Champion.' Ash thought.

"Alright, that's enough. Good work, Sylveon." Ash suddenly announced, returning Sylveon.

"What? But…" Cynthia started to protest.

"I can feel that Garchomp had acknowledged the bond between me and Sylveon and Sylveon's strength and willpower that allowed Sylveon to last 15 minutes against her. Don't you, Garchomp?"

"**I sure do!" **Garchomp replied.

"Garchomp….is it true?" Cynthia asked. Garchomp nodded her assent. Cynthia smiled, and returned her Garchomp.

"So, why is that Hyper Beam light pink instead of orange?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh, my Sylveon has the Hidden ability called Pixilate. It turns Normal-types moves like Hyper Beam to Fairy-type moves. Now, why don't we continue our date?" Ash asked, taking her hand.

"Like how?" Cynthia asked, as Ash led her somewhere else.

"Have you ever been in one of these?"

Cynthia looked up, and realized that Ash had led her to one of the Rapidash and carriages that were usually all over PAL's Gardens at night.

"Of course not. They're for people who go on dates."

"Perfect." Ash grinned, as he handed the carriage driver, who was wearing an old-timey outfit with a top hat, some money. "We'll go around the park." He continued, as he helped Cynthia on the red velvet bench, which was about the size of a typical loveseat.

"Let's go!" Ash said, pointing forward, as the carriage driver started the horse, and they got going with a lurch.

* * *

"Oh, that?" the Dragon Princess was saying in response to the question Lance asked her. "They occasionally varied the nickname, depending on the person's most well-known trait, in this case, we were well-known for our powerful Dragon Pokémon. So in a way, you can say I used to rule PAL alongside the Dragon Prince. We were supposed to reside at the Plateau with Jude and Phillip, but we preferred our cave, as our cave had more privacy. When Pakura so-called succeeded me, I still kept my title as Dragon Princess, since Pakura wasn't a Dragon trainer, but I'm not referred to individually; I'm just referred to as the Dragon Duo, because we were always seen together until five years ago, when we vanished altogether."

"You used to run PAL?" Lance asked incredulously. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"You never asked, and I didn't feel it was important." Princess replied shortly. "Anyway, so how was your battle this morning?"

"Relatively boring." Lance muttered. "Opponent was some girl who claimed to be a Dragon Buster. Her three Pokémon couldn't even last 5 minutes against Flygon."

Princess nodded absent-mindedly. "The real challenge is when the weak ones are eliminated and the strong remain. Just a warning, though. The PAL always had high standards, so I'm sure the PAL Elite members themselves are all at least regional Champion level. I bet my Dragon Princess tiara that should any of them lose, their opponents are probably the Champions."

"Do you think I have the chance?" Lance enquired.

Princess thought for a moment, before replying, "I think you'd be able to defeat Jude and Rosaline, although you'd have a hard time taking them down. I think you'll have an easier time with Rosaline, though. I'm not very sure about Phillip, since he does have the type advantage over you. You can forget about Pakura and Ash, those two are already beyond regional Champion level."

"Why would I have an easier time with Rosaline?" Lance asked, puzzled.

"Well, Jude's actually stronger than Rosaline. When she applied to take the final spot, she battled Jude, and lost all six of her Pokémon, while Jude only lost two, since the rule was if you want to be an Elite member, you have to fight them with the Pokémon types you want to specialize in. She used Fire/Psychic Pokémon, which I think was a stupid move, since Jude's a Water/Dark, which gives him a double advantage. Only her Gardevoir had a chance since it's a Psychic/Fairy and it had an advantage over Jude's Dark Pokémon. If you ask me, she depended on Gardevoir a bit too much when she battled Jude."

"How did you know all these?" Lance asked, amazed.

"Pakura stated all these when she announced to PAL that they now had a fourth member and why she made her the second member." Princess replied shortly. 'Actually, the public doesn't know Rosaline lost to Jude, they only knew that Rosaline took up the fourth spot as the Fire/Psychic specialist.' Princess thought.

"I see…" Lance trailed off.

"Anyway, the thing is, those Elites can give commands non-verbally and by mere eye contact due to the deep bonds they have with their Pokémon, only they have been holding back since they are paired up with the weaker trainers."

"Is their bond with their Pokémon that deep?" Lance asked.

"Their bond is so deep that they can activate Mega Evolution more than once. Usually, Mega Evolution can only be used once in a battle, and on one Pokémon only, but the PAL Elites' bonds with their Pokémon were able to bypass the rule, and they can Mega Evolve more than one Pokémon in their team in one battle, and Mega Evolve the same Pokémon more than once."

"Wait, what's Mega Evolution?"

"You didn't see it before?" Princess was surprised.

Lance shook his head.

"I see. They haven't used it in battle yet. I'll only explain when you see a Mega Evolution for yourself. For now, just prepare for the Top 64. But before you go, I have something for you."

Lance was curious, as Princess went to another part of the cave, and came out with an Egg case containing a Pokémon Egg. The Egg was white and blue in colour, and had a red outline at the border that separates the white and blue colours.

"I rescued this Egg from a poacher the other day. Problem with our region is the number of Pokémon here attracts many poachers. But judging by the aura, it's most likely a powerful Pokémon but I felt I don't need any more Pokémon, so I thought you might like it." Princess said, as she held out the Egg case containing the Egg to him.

"You want me to take care of it?" Lance was incredulous.

Princess nodded. "Would you please take this egg?" She held out the egg case to him. He could almost see the puppy eyes she was giving him.

Lance looked down at the egg, and imagined some baby Pokémon who would want a loving Trainer, and held out his hands for the egg. Princess promptly placed the case in his arms, and added a Luxury Ball on top of the case, for him to use to catch the Pokémon when it hatched.

"Thanks, Princess. I'll take good care of it."

"Goodnight, Lance. Good luck with your match." Princess waved.

"I will do my best." Lance smiled. With that, he left.

Once he left, Princess laughed. "What a stupid guy. Manipulating him would be really easy." Princess commented, as she lifted her gown, exposing Eevee, who was nuzzling her legs. "You can come out now."

As Eevee exited from the hem of her gown, Pakura grumbled, "I don't see why you have to keep me in sight at all times. Couldn't you just go back to the Pokéball like Sylveon and Skitty?"

"**But I like being outside with you!"** Eevee cutely protested. She had been really concerned about Pakura, not even leaving her sight for one moment since the Dragon/Psychic Pokémon told her of her backstory. To emphasise her point, she jumped into Pakura's arms, just as her Pokéballs open to reveal Sylveon and Skitty.

Pakura sighed and caught her, petting her absent-mindedly. "Well, never mind." She muttered, as she set Eevee on her lap and poured some white liquor on a wine glass, and popped some antidepressants into her mouth before downing it with the liquor. Anti-depressants and white liquor were two of her addictions she gained since she became an Elite member.

"**You're still hell-bent on bringing Shiki back to life, aren't you?" **Espeon asked, glaring disapprovingly at the wine glass on her hand.

"Well, of course. I've been manipulating events from the very beginning since five years ago. I knew I had to give up being the Dragon Princess and get the PAL Princess title if I wanted the chance to access the forbidden information, because it's be suspicious if the Dragon Princess were searching for information relating to Life Reincarnation, as they would immediately know that the Prince is dead and ask questions, and I won't be able to keep his body with me but if Pakura Ameyuri does this, they won't suspect anything because I don't have a family nor do I have any friends, so they'll assume it's for research purposes. Anyway, I took his life, so the least I could do is give it back to him."

"**You did not take his life. I was there, remember?" ** Espeon asked, but Pakura simply shrugged.

"**But if the technique fails when you use it, not only would Shiki remain dead, you'll die too!" **Sylveon yelled.

"I don't care. Best scenario, Shi-chan would continue his role as the Dragon Prince, replace me as the Elite Leader and be reunited with his friend, and my pathetic life would end. Worst scenario, I die and be with Shi-chan again. Doesn't seem like a loss either way." Pakura rolled her eyes, as she turned to look at the wall thoughtfully, where she knew behind was where she had preserved the Prince's body.

'Yeah, but it'll be a big loss to all of us.' Skitty thought. She lowered her ears sadly at the thought of losing her Trainer.

"If the other Elites try to stop me, I will kill them without hesitation. I hate them, anyway. I only have one friend, and he certainly isn't Ash." She thought how nice their blood would look on her.

"**Then why do you help him?" **Sylveon asked.

"To kill time." Pakura answered simply. She took a delicate sip of the liquor again, as she held up the middle part of the letter that she had torn out of the newspaper earlier. She had deliberately planted that letter among the newspapers, knowing Rosaline would find it, but torn out the middle part so they would go around on a wild chase to find out more.

The middle part only had one sentence that said, _I hereby give my Elite position to Pakura Ameyuri._

An idea just popped up in her head, and she smirked.

"I wonder what Ash would make of this move." With that, she left the cave, her three Pokémon following to see what she had in mind.

* * *

Rosaline yawned, as she came out of her room. There was little to no information on the Dragon Duo, other than the fact that they were the first pair (second being Ash and Pakura) to rule PAL, as usually, there would only be one person to be given the title, and they were the sixth Prince and Princess that PAL had. (Which meant Ash and Pakura are preceded by the Dragon Duo)

She wondered why they had to be so mysterious, not even revealing their names in public. If they had, this case would be so much easier. She wondered if she should go play poker with Grimsley's Elites, since Grimsley asked her if she would like to play, only she refused, as she had a case to work on.

"Do you think life is always so easy, Rosaline Pyra?" A voice laughed.

Rosaline turned, a fireball on her hand, ready to shoot, but to her surprise, the fire was immediately encased in ice, and was destroyed into pieces.

'Shit, ice is one of my weaknesses.' Rosaline thought. "Who are you? Show yourself!" She shouted.

"Sure." The voice said. "After I do….this!" Rosaline then found herself flying, and before she could use her own telekinesis to stop her fall, she crashed into an urn filled with fake flowers (Pakura doesn't like real flowers since she thought they die easily, and she doesn't want to replace them every 2 weeks). The urn tipped over, and shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. Rosaline landed in the shards, and blood immediately flowed from her hands. Someone stepped on her chest, preventing her from getting up.

Rosaline looked up to her assailant, and saw a girl wearing a red formal gown, along with a tiara with many jewels on it. She widened her eyes when she recognized the Dragon Princess' formal outfit. She was about to call for help, but the Dragon Princess shook her head. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I placed a barrier around Jude's room so he wouldn't be able to get out and save you even if he wanted to. Besides, I can make the barrier soundproof, just like your Champion."

"How did you get through the security?" Rosaline demanded, trying to struggle, but it was futile.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" The Dragon Princess replied in a mocking tone.

"Don't underestimate me!" She attempted to use telekinesis, but the Dragon Princess was able to repel it with her own, which was much stronger. Rosaline felt winded from the telekinetic blow that landed on her stomach.

The Dragon Princess sighed. "You needed your hands to channel the power of your telekinesis? Pity. And you're supposed to be the strongest Psychic?" She sounded disgusted at the thought.

"What's it to you?" Rosaline glared at her, as she tried to read the Dragon Princess' mind to find out who she really is, only to get a big headache, as it came up blank.

'It must've been a psychic shield.' Rosaline thought, closing her eyes and trying to clear her headache.

"Do you really think you'd get to where you are if you hadn't followed that other female Elite around in her travels? You may think she was in danger, when in reality, you were the one disrupted her killing a Team Rocket grunt, thinking she needed help. You freaking followed her all the way to PAL, and had the guts to apply to be the final member, when you can't even defeat Jude! For a PAL Elite, you're pathetic."

"That isn't true! Pakura was the one that allowed me to be the second member!" Rosaline defended, but there was doubt in her voice.

"Really? Then why does she treat you like she treats everybody else, if you're so close with her?"

Rosaline widened her eyes. "How did you…"

"Know? Because I'm Psychic. A much stronger one than you'll ever be. Don't worry. I'll not hurt you enough to not compete in the tournament. Go to sleep." She raised a hand, and chopped the back of her neck, knocking Rosaline out.

"I never had so much fun." Pakura laughed, not in a nice way, as she removed the barrier at Jude's door so as to not arouse suspicion. Pakura crouched beside her, and her hands glowed as she placed it to Rosaline's forehead. "Hmm….I sense doubt in her emotions. Can't let her ruin everything now, can I?" She then placed a hand on her chest, modifying her emotions as well.

* * *

Phillip sighed, as he sat down across from Jasmine at a restaurant called Cuisine Paradise, name of another five star restaurant, for dinner. The customers had stared at them when they entered, probably wondering what he was doing going out with a girl instead of playing video games or using his brains for his inventions or helping Rosaline crack her case, which was what he usually does at night.

They chatted about random stuff, such as Phillip's inventions and challengers that made an impression on Jasmine. They were finally eating the dessert, and Phillip made a mental note to hurry and get Jasmine back to the Tower after dessert. Since he was a Hunter, he didn't need to pay for even first class public facilities, and restaurants are technically under that category.

"So," Jasmine said, all chatty-like, while she started on her dessert, which was a strawberry shortcake. "What do you think of the tournament so far, Phillip?" She gave him a sweet smile as she asked him.

Phillip wondered if that was the type of smiles that Lacey gave Jude when they were dating, and if Jasmine was employing the same method. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of flustering him, even if he was one of the more awkward ones.

"It was fine. Not much competition so far, we're waiting for the weak ones to get kicked out so we can face the real competition."

"Oh?" Jasmine said, as she ate her cake. "And who are you hoping to face in this tournament?"

"Anyone that can make me go full power, I guess." Phillip said, as Jasmine finished her cake. He stiffened as he felt very slight malicious intent, and it's coming from the Tower. And at the same time, the CommuniDex rang, signalling a message. Phillip opened the message, and saw it was from Jude. He widened his eyes when he read the message.

"Sorry, I got to go. We'll continue this some other time." He announced as he stood up.

Jasmine was surprised by his sudden movement. "Wait, where are you…?"

But he didn't let her finish, as he rushed off, back to the Tower, increasing his speed by converting his aura to electricity, allowing him to move in lightning speed. He didn't bother with the elevator, and simply ran up the stairs to their floor.

Phillip burst in the sitting room, panting. "What happened, Jude?" He asked, as he touched Jude on the shoulder, accidentally electrocuting him.

"Ouch! Phillip, what the heck! Couldn't you deactivate your ability before touching me?" While covering himself in aura he transmuted into electricity, it increases his speed and reflexes, and also useful in combat as whoever he touches during this time gets shocked really badly. This aura can protect him from bullets and knives since his aura would incinerate them before they reached his body. However, in this mode, this also prevents him from touching his friends without them getting shocked.

"Sorry." Phillip apologized, as he deactivated his electric armour. "So what happened?"

Jude silently pointed, and Phillip gasped when he saw an injured Rosaline, who looked disoriented, as if she just woke up. Her hands were completely bandaged, and there were pieces of what used to be an urn, and fake flowers were strewn all over the floor.

"Rosaline has been injured." Jude finally answered, worried for Rosaline. "Rosaline, what happened?"

Rosaline scratched her head. "Well, I slipped, and fell on the urn. I must've hit my head as well, since everything went black after that." She muttered. She vaguely wondered why she felt manipulated, but pushed that thought to the back of her head.

"I think we better check the surveillance room to find out what happened." Phillip suggested. Jude nodded, and laid Rosaline on the couch to rest, as they headed to the security room.

"By the way, why aren't you contacting the Leader?" Phillip asked.

"She was unreachable. Arceus knows where she is and what she is doing at this present moment." Jude grumbled. "She always puts work above our well-being."

Phillip nodded, as they helped Rosalien rest on the couch before making their way to the security room, where they played back the security footage recorded from their floor, but came up with nothing.

"Someone deleted it!" Phillip gasped.

"So what does that mean?" Jude questioned.

Phillip looked grim. "Rosaline didn't slip; someone attacked her, and modified her memories."

"Wait, memory modification, the higher form of memory manipulation?" Jude gasped.

"No doubt about it. The Dragon Princess, in terms of psychic power, she is stronger than Rosaline." Phillip sounded grim. "Maybe she did this."

"I bet only Ash or Pakura would be able to take her down. After all, they possess a diverse array of aura abilities."

"Oh yeah, Ash also had psychic abilities alongside aura abilities." Phillip nodded. Psychic abilities were different from aura abilities, since some (like Sabrina and Will) weren't aura users, yet they still can use psychic abilities.

"Yeah, Ash may have the least amount of training, but I bet only our Leader would give him some trouble in terms of combat skills." Jude agreed. "I think we better check on Rosaline."

"Should we call Grimsley?" Phillip asked.

Jude shook his head. "We can tell him in the morning. Anyway, did you call Ash?"

"No, I figured he needed some relaxation time with Cynthia. I'll talk to him when he gets back."

* * *

Ash returned to the penthouse, face flushed, hair messed up, and lipstick smudged on his face and part of his lips. Only Phillip was there when he returned.

Phillip whistled at his messy state. "Wow, what happened?"

Ash looked down on the floor, as at that moment, the floor seemed very interesting. "Went on a carriage ride after dinner, and…."

"And?" Phillip prompted.

"Well….we...started making out in the carriage, don't ask me how, but we made out throughout the park."

"But the park is like thirty blocks!" Phillip practically yelled, looking excited at the news. "Anything more?"

"As long as I'm confessing everything, I got carried away and did a little below the neck action…"

"Did she slap you for it?" Phillip said, raising his eyebrow.

"No….she liked it, actually…" Ash blushed when he thought of Cynthia telling him they should do this more often.

"Then what's the problem?" Phillip asked, exasperated.

"It's just that…..I've only been dating her for a few days, won't it be more sensible to wait for a few months before doing this?" Ash questioned.

"Yes, but during these few days, a lot of things happened. Look at the mysteries we have to solve, the clues we have to figure out, and anyway, your dates with Cynthia are really long." Phillip replied.

"Oh speaking of dates, how were yours and Jasmine's?"

Phillip shook his head. "Had to walk out on her since I sensed malicious intent in the Tower."

"What happened?" Ash asked. "Tell me!"

Phillip opened his mouth, and started telling him everything.

* * *

Ash took a shower and dressed in another set of pyjamas. Pikachu and Lucario were already asleep, and he noted that Pikachu had his arms around Buneary. Smiling for his best friend, he slipped into bed, and thought of what Phillip had told him, about how Rosaline may have been attacked and her memories modified, which Ash later confirmed to be true. While he can detect memory modifications, the problem is, while he can remove memory blocks, he can only remove the memory blocks he himself had placed. Removing blocks that others have placed is quite difficult, as one wrong move, and the person may become a drooling baboon with his mind crushed, and Ash couldn't risk that.

Ash sighed, as he drifted to a restless sleep.

"_What's going on?" A guard shouted, as explosions occurred from above their floor. There were three guards with guns standing in front of a door, probably guarding whatever that was inside. Judging by their uniforms, Ash knew that they were Team Rocket grunts. With them were a Gloom, a Weezing and a Drapion, probably the Grunts' Pokémon._

_The door in front of them burst open, and another grunt came in with an Espeon. Ash couldn't make him out since he's a silhouette. _

"_Oh, it's just you. What's going on there?" A second guard asked the grunt that had just entered. _

_The grunt stayed silent, and just kept looking at the ground. _

"_Did something happen?" The third guard asked. "You don't seem fine to me." _

"_Is our Boss okay?" The first guard asked the fourth. "Is that why you're looking so grim?" _

_The grunt's head went up to face them. "Oh yes, the Boss managed to escape. But I doubt you will." Ash could tell the person was smirking. And by the voice, Ash thought it was a boy a few years younger than him. _

"_You-!" The fourth person knocked out the guard closest to him, and the other two opened fire, while ordering their Pokémon to attack. _

"_Espeon, Psychic!" The Pokémon's attacks and the bullets stopped in mid-air, and it was sent back to the senders, causing them to run. Only to run into the boy himself, who had blocked the doorway. _

"_Where are you going?" The boy asked. _

_The grunts barely had time to react, before the boy knocked them all out with a dart that probably was dipped in some sedative drug. Sure enough, the grunts passed out the second the dart touched their skins, and Espeon meanwhile, took out their Pokémon. _

_The boy crouched down, and searched the guards, finally finding a set of keys. The boy used a key to open the door, only to find another door behind it. The boy, unfazed, sued a second key to unlock it, only to find a third door behind it. _

"_Espeon, it looks like this weapon of theirs are under heavy lock. It must've been a successful experiment if there were such heavy guard." Espeon nodded, as the boy started unlocking all the doors. Ash counted that there were 9 doors the boy had unlooked, before he unlocked the last door, to reveal a really cramped cell, actually Ash couldn't even call it a room, since it's around 9 feet square. There was something in the middle of the floor, and the boy crouched down to check the weapon. Ash couldn't even see what it was because it was a wrapped in thick blankets. _

"_I finally found you." The boy whispered, sounding rather happy. He carried the weapon with the blanket. "Espeon, could you get Charizard's Pokéball out for me?" _

_Espeon nodded, and did as it was told, and let Charizard out. Charizard materialized, and looked around, puzzled, until he saw his Trainer. Ash noted that he was wearing a Mega Stone._

"_You can't take that weapon away from us!" A grunt shouted feebly, reaching out a hand to try and stop the boy, only for his hand to be stepped on painfully. "Giovanni had funded so much for this project and our three best scientists spent 10 years perfecting it." _

"_Then tell those idiots to experiment on themselves, if you want a human weapon so much. Charizard, we're getting out of here." He nodded his head towards the bundle of blankets in his arms. Charizard grunted in acknowledgement, and allowed the boy and Espeon to climb on his back, and using Hyper Beam to destroy the ceiling, and flying into the sky. _

Ash sat up in his bed. That was definitely the boy who stole the weapon. Due to the Espeon and Charizard, he was almost certain it was the Dragon Prince, and he knew that the Dragon Prince was aware of the concepts of Mega Evolution, by the Mega Stone Charizard was wearing.

However, funnily enough, the Dragon Princess wasn't with him, but that dream gave him something else to think about. According to Lance, the Cursed Child from his clan was given away to Team Rocket nearly 20 years ago. And the boy commented something about their experiment being successful.

Ash gasped. Team Rocket must've experimented on the Cursed Child to create a human weapon that is capable of using aura to combat the aura users, and the bundle the boy was carrying was most likely a person, who later became the Dragon Princess! No wonder the Dragon Princess was revengeful, but what has it got to do with his Elites?

Ash was sickened at the thoughts of the experiments on a child. Since Team Rocket had many male members, he wondered if she was raped multiple times under their custody. Ash actually felt his dinner coming up, and rushed to the toilet, vomiting everything that came up.

'Sickening bastards.' Ash thought, as he wiped his mouth, and flushed the toilet. He sighed. He was certain the previous Princes and Princesses didn't have to worry about someone going after their lives.

He exited his room to the living room, only to see Pakura there again, reading a book.

"I guess I don't have to ask why you are awake, do I." Ash asked, as he sat down next to her.

"What did you dream of this time round?" Pakura retorted.

Ash started telling her everything about the dream, and decided to tell her of his suspicions.

"I doubt she was raped." Pakura shook her head, when he told her of his theory.

"How would you know?" Ash questioned.

"Look, Team Rocket, like you said, wanted a strong weapon to combat those aura users, both physically and mentally, so I highly doubt they would mentally crush her, and rape falls under that category. However, they probably physically tortured her so she can endure pain and strengthen her will so that if she was captured and tortured for information, no amount of pain would get her to talk."

"I wonder how the Dragon Princess survived all that if she spent 10 years living like this."

"Who knows? Maybe she had an ability that allowed her to heal rapidly from any physical injury gained during the torture or something." Pakura shrugged. "Anything else?"

"We have a prime suspect for the identity of the Dragon Prince." Ash answered. "His name is Shiki Kurobane."

Pakrua inwardly froze at her fiancé's name, but kept her cool on the outside. "And who is he?" She asked evenly.

"A boy from Blackthorn City. He's around Lance's age, and they were childhood friends. Apparently, he was some sort of prodigy like them, and is part of a very powerful family in the Dragon Clan. Apparently as part of that family he had to take up other training besides Dragon training. He was the winner of five different conferences, something like your five Grand Festival wins."

'I know all that already.' Pakura thought. "Oh? And why do you call him a boy then, if he's around Lance's age? Isn't Lance around 27-28?"

"Well, there's something about his appearance that gives you the impression that he is young at heart, you know." Ash answered. "And then there was this letter by the Dragon Princess Rosaline found in the library, but we thought the Dragon Princess must've torn out part of it without being noticed." He took out the letter from his pocket, and showed it to her.

Pakura outwardly frowned, as she read the message. Inwardly she was rolling her eyes, because of course Rosaline would find it, since she purposely planted the newspaper containing the letter near the top pile of old newspapers. "I think the Dragon Princess must've used a disguise if she wasn't recognized by the librarian or something. Maybe an illusion?"

Ash paused to think. Now that his observation skills has improved, he can see through every single one of the former Team Rocket members' disguises. Now he thought of it, some of their disguises during his journeys were too obvious, and he wondered why he didn't recognize them.

Ash nodded, and noted it down in his head. "I think you're right. And also, earlier tonight, Rosaline had been attacked in the Tower."

"Like how?" Pakura asked.

"Her hands were injured, and her memories had been modified, most likely by the Dragon Princess. I would try to reverse it, but I don't know the pattern she used to modify her memory, and if I do one little misstep it can be fatal. Only she would be able to remove it without any drawbacks, just like how I can remove my own memory blocks on someone in an instant, since I know how mine works and all."

"Hmm…..what memory was her mind replaced with?"

"She said she slipped on an urn and fell, and hit her head, which probably knocked her out. But why would she want to attack Rosaline? She's such a sweet person, and nobody hates her."

Pakura shrugged. "Jealousy maybe?"

"But what does Rosaline have that the Dragon Princess doesn't?"

'A loving family, and a caring boyfriend that no doubt she took for granted like Jude and Phillip.' Pakura thought scathingly, but she said, "Beats me. Guess that's another thing we have to investigate. So, how was your date?"

Ash blushed, and told her everything he had told Phillip, only unlike Phillip, she didn't interrupt him.

Even he was done telling her, she only absent-mindedly commented on the making out part.

"You got to second base already? That's good. Shows that you two are meant to be."

"Thanks for being supportive, Paku." Ash smiled.

"Anyway, next time you take Cynthia out, why not take her to Amare City?" Pakura suggested.

"What's that?" Ash frowned. He never heard any of the other Elites mention it before.

"It's also known as the City of Love. Many couples like to go on dates there. The atmosphere is really nice."

"Where is it?" Ash asked.

"It's located near Ludunt City, you know the gambling city. From here, it's half an hour by car. While you're at it, you should impress her with your driving skills. I can lend you my car if you like." Pakura offered.

"That'll be great, thanks!" Ash smiled at her.

"Also, I just want you to know that if the Dragon Princess does take you down, I'll be there to back you up. For now, go back to bed. You need energy to take that little boy down." Pakura nodded.

"And that's why you're my best friend. You understand me the best." Ash nodded. "I could never forget how you took me in when I'm lost in this region. You were a good friend at a time when I needed friends. If not for you, I won't even be here."

"I think even without my help, you'd somehow take the Pokémon World by storm." Pakura replied.

Ash laughed. "You have too much faith in me."

"Anyway, just telling you, there are regional reporters snooping around our region for a good story as well. Be careful of them, we wouldn't want them to know what we do now, do we?"

"Yes, I get it. Goodnight, Paku."

"Goodnight." Ash nodded to her, and returned to his room.

"I wonder if Ash would order for my execution for my crimes." She laughed, not in a nice way, at the thought of being caught. The thing was, in normal circumstances, she knew she'd immediately get a death sentence if her crimes are brought into light. However, since she is a three-star Blacklist Hunter and the PAL's Princess, the only one that can really order her execution would be Ash. "Or would Ash try to find out why I did all these? Either way, it's so much fun to see them trying to make sense of the clues they have, but come up with nothing. Being Ash's most trusted person, I'd love to see the look on his face when he realized who exactly did this. This is a dangerous game, but that just makes me want to play even more. Let's play, Champion Ash."

* * *

"_Hey Ash."_ Mewtwo was waiting for him when he re-entered the room.

"Something wrong, Mewtwo?" Ash asked.

Mewtwo nodded. _"Yes. I found some information about Lance's Dragon Clan I thought you'd might like to know." _

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"_There is something more to one child being born a genius in the Dragon Clan. I checked the people that they said were born with this gift, and I realized that they also had the ability to uncannily improve in Dragon Training with every battle they experienced. They actually used aura unconsciously while battling with Dragon Pokémon. Those people not Phillip Robinson genius; they are simply strategic geniuses. However, since none of them had any training in aura, their proficiency is limited to Dragon Training."_

"Which is very useful, since many members of the Dragon Clan end up being Dragon Masters." Ash concluded.

"_That is correct. Since they didn't receive any training, they are labelled as geniuses in terms or using aura." _

"You can be a genius in aura?" Ash was surprised.

"_I don't know why you look so shocked over this. You yourself is a genius in aura as well. When you first understood Pikachu four years ago, you were unconsciously using aura to understand Pikachu." _

Ash nodded absently. "But I did have training, though."

Mewtwo sighed. _"Yes, but geniuses also learn much faster. Didn't you notice during the four years you learnt how to manifest aura into abilities much faster than the other four? You even learnt how to supress your aura, which is a very difficult thing to learn." _

"Oh, that's true…" He knew this ability all too well, since he sometimes used it on missions so that no one can detect him. This ability allows him to suppress his aura to the point that it is completely undetectable, which makes it impossible for others, even aura users, to detect his presence. However, when this is in use, he couldn't use his other abilities.

"_So which means that this Dragon Princess most likely had this gift, and unlike the others, she is aware of aura and how it works, and while you might have some trouble with her, you have a very rare ability that may be able to stop her- or the other aura users, for that matter." _

"I do?" Ash was surprised.

"_You used it once before when you trained with Pakura. I can't tell you, because Arceus says you need to discover for yourself to grow as an aura user, as well as the Champion and the Prince. You better rest for tomorrow, I expect nothing less from you." _Mewtwo answered, before returning to its Pokéball.

Ash got under the covers, and thought if this unknown ability that he had. Maybe if he had the time to go to the training gym located under the lobby, he can somehow activate the ability again. No one but the PAL Elites can access it due to the fact that to get the elevator to take them there, there is a panel that is located just below the elevator buttons and if the panel is removed, it reveals a keyboard. If you key in the correct passcode, the elevators would take them to the gymnasium below the lobby, and only the PAL Elites know the password.

Since the elevator would remain in the gymnasium until another floor button is pressed, the PAL Elites agree to use only one elevator, since to the others, the elevator would have a "Temporarily Unavailable" sign on it.

Ash wondered if he and the Dragon Princess were the same, as both of them were abandoned at one point in their lives, though Ash privately admitted the Dragon Princess was worse off than he was. He was almost certain that unlike him, the Dragon Princess operated alone.

As he fell asleep, he thought to himself that he might have ended up like the Dragon Princess had Pakura not found him and brought him to the other Elites, who later became his close friends.

* * *

Ash yawned, as he walked down the hallway to have breakfast, along with his Pokémon. He was apparently not the first one up, since Pakura's Pokémon were already in the sitting room eating. He filled up the bowls of all his Pokémon, and set them in the sitting room with Pakura's Pokémon for them to eat. A magazine was on the couch, probably left there by his Leader. He wondered if she had stayed up the entire night again, and made a mental note to tell her that this isn't good for her health, physical or mental.

Just as he filled his plate, the doors opened and his other Elites came out. They greeted him, filled the bowls of their Pokémon, and sent out their Pokémon, before joining him at the table.

"Feeling better, Rosaline?" Ash asked.

Rosaline smiled. "I survived the Hunter Exam, I can endure a little bit of pain. My wounds would heal in a few days."

Ash opened his mouth to say something, when the elevator doors opened and Grimsley, Cynthia and Jasmine stepped out. Phillip choked on his orange juice, and went, "J-Jasmine, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to associate yourself with me after what I did last night."

"That's what you think." Jasmine replied, as the three of them filled bowls with Pokemon food, and sent their Pokémon out to eat, and joining them at the table, with Jasmine sitting down next to Phillip. "I…" She trailed off when she saw Ash (he had his hood off).

"Ash?" Jasmine was surprised to see him. "What are you…?"

"Well, you see, Ash is our Champion." Jude explained. "Only he was using his middle names as his alias to avoid detection by the traitors."

"What traitors?" Jasmine sounded suspicious, looking at Phillip for answers.

Phillip, in turn, looked nervously at Ash, who nodded. He then looked at Jasmine and said hesitatingly, "Well, it all started four years ago…."

(One long explanation later…)

"They did what?" Jasmine was shocked that Ash's friends would do such a thing, especially Misty, Brock and Dawn, whom she met at least once.

"Which is why Ash is currently under an alias, we don't want them to know his real identity just yet." Phillip explained.

"So, when is he going to reveal himself?" Jasmine asked.

"The Top 4, or if it proves impossible, at least until we…" Phillip stopped, knowing Jasmine doesn't know a thing about the PAL Mysteries.

"You what?" Jasmine asked curiously.

"It's a long story. We'll tell you over lunch or something." Ash promised, and Jasmine nodded.

'Ash! What are you doing?' Phillip asked telepathically.

'It's alright. It's ok to tell Jasmine. I scanned her mind and she doesn't have ill intentions- on the contrary, she seemed to like you very much, as a person, and thinks your awkwardness is cute.'

'But…' Phillip protested.

'It's fine.' Ash cut him off.

'Alright.' Phillip internally sighed. 'We'll tell her during lunch. If she leaks anything, we can always ask Rosaline to erase her memories.'

'That's the spirit.' Ash agreed, just as Pakura stepped out of the elevator. She completely ignored everyone, and just spared a glance at Jasmine, before going back to her room.

"She's always like that. Just leave her alone and she'll leave you alone." Phillip muttered to Jasmine, who was giving him a questioning glace about his Leader's behaviour.

* * *

"What is it, Gary, Paul, Tracey?" Ash asked, as they said they wanted to request something.

"Well, we were wondering if you would utterly humiliate Max. Just use one Pokémon and wipe him out in less than 10 minutes or you can prolong his agony at watching his Pokémon being beaten up without being able to counter." Gary said.

"Any good reason?" Ash asked. "You know I don't beat up Pokémon, even if it is the traitor's."

"I know." Paul sighed. "But yesterday afternoon, Max was against this girl called Jeanette Fisher…" Ash vaguely remembered her as being his fourth opponent in the Indigo League all those years ago.

"…she was up against Max the other day, and anyway, she defeated his Mightyena and Sceptile, and they weren't hurt badly, just fainted, but he brought out his Gallade, and you should've seen how he used Gallade to beat up her remaining two Pokémon even when they had fainted. He's really ruthless, and when she lost, he cornered her after the battle with his friends and called her a weak freak, and how she would never defeat him! His friends were egging him on!"

"What?" Ash was shocked.

"I was there." Tracey nodded. "Also got his friends to laugh at her as well. She was utterly humiliated. Since she wasn't bad looking, May remarked that she should be Brock's slut, since all she is good for is to be on her back."

Ash bristled at the implication. How dare Max do this!

"And so, she was crying really hard from the hurting remarks, and we had to intervene by distracting the traitors while Tracey escaped with her, and brought her back to her room" Gary finished.

"And the poor girl won't even leave her hotel room, and ordered Room Service all the time after I brought her back." Tracey reported.

Ash nodded. "Alright, I'll make sure he feels the agony that she had felt."

Jirachi's ball shook slightly, and Ash knew he wanted to be the one to humiliate Max.

'Don't worry, Jirachi. You can do the honours.' Ash replied through telepathy. A warm feeling flooded his heart, and he knew Jirachi was satisfied with this chance.

When Ash later walked in the VIP Box with his Elites (except Phillip since his match is first), Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine, he noticed that the rest were clustered around Lance, who apparently received a Pokémon Egg sometime yesterday.

"Where'd you get the egg from, Lance?" Morty asked.

"An acquaintance gave it to me." Lance replied, smiling as he looked down at the egg.

"Do you know what it would hatch into?" Tate asked.

"Not yet. But Dragon-types or not, I'll take good care of this Pokémon." Lance answered.

"That's very nice of your friend." Ash nodded.

'Yeah right.' Pakura scoffed inwardly.

* * *

"The first battle of the Top 64 would happen in Desert Terrain, and our two competitors are Phillip and Bruno!" Ken announced, as they were raised into the battlefield. As usual, Phillip had his Emolga with him.

"**Wow! I'm so psyched! Go Phillip!" **Pikachu cheered.

"**I wonder what Pokémon Phillip is going to use against Bruno." **Lucario said.

"I think he may go with Electric types since Steel is disadvantageous against Fighting." Ash replied.

"But as the third member of the Elite, he should be able to win with his Steel types." Cynthia commented.

"Phillip, good luck!" Jasmine shouted from the front row. Since she is now 'close' to Phillip, she got to sit among the PAL Elites. Some were at the back discussing just why Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine had the privilege to sit near them, as the PAL Elites sat at the very front since they do not want to be bombarded with incessant questions.

Rosaline also joined her in cheering for Phillip. She felt better from yesterday, through her hands still sting whenever she touched something, despite the protection from the bandages.

"Be quiet. You are noisy." Pakura, who unfortunately was seated next to them, said coldly. Both of them shut up at once, not wanting to incur the Princess' wrath, and Phillip had said the last time she got angry at them, they (excluding Ash, since at that time, he was out doing a mission) landed in the hospital, and it took around a month for them to heal from the aftermath.

"Machamp, let's battle!" Bruno sent out the Superpower Pokémon.

"Mawile, I need your help!" Phillip sent out his Mawile, who was wearing a Mega Stone at the top of her head, secured by a headband.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Machamp, let's start things off with Earthquake!" Bruno ordered. Machamp stomped his foot on the ground, and the battlefield helped to enhance the Earthquake.

"Jump and use Astonish!" Mawile vanished from her spot, and suddenly reappeared in Machamp's face, making a chilling face that frightened Machamp into flinching.

"Now, use Focus Blast!" Mawile took advantage of the flinching to fire a powerful Focus Blast at Machamp, who staggered back.

"Don't give in Machamp! Use Dual Chop!"

"Bruno you know that's not going to…" Phillip started, but Machamp already executed the Dual Chop. However, the attack didn't even damage Mawile one bit.

"…work." Phillip finished.

"But how? Mawile is a Steel, it should've done damage."

"Mawile is now part Fairy. And even if it isn't, Dual Chop still isn't very effective. "

Bruno groaned, as he realized that meant that Mawile was now completely immune to Dragon type moves. He had to go read up on this mysterious Fairy-type.

"It's time to take the gloves off." Phillip announced, as he revealed his stickpin on his shirt, which the PAL Elites knew had the Key Stone to Mega Evolve his Pokémon. There were blue tendrils of light emitting from Mawile's Mega Stone on her head, and yellow tendrils of light coming from Phillip's stickpin. Each tendril of light connected with the opposite tendril of light, and when they touched, they turned into a bright white light, that slowly spread.

"Mega Evolution, commence!" Phillip announced, as Mawile glowed in colourful lights of Mega Evolution, and when the light died, Mawile had a second set of jaws protruding from the back of her head, and both sets now have a spiky tuft of hair. The ear-like extensions on her head are longer and have tips with two points. The fur on her legs is now magenta. It now has longer fur on her arms with magenta markings around her wrists.

* * *

"What is going on here?" Bugsy gasped.

"Looks like an evolution to me." Flannery replied.

"But that's impossible, how could a Pokémon evolve beyond their final evolution?" Koga questioned.

"And it looks like Philip Robinson has chosen to use Mega Evolution! For those who do not know what Mega Evolution is, it is a transformation that affects Pokémon. In order to Mega Evolve, the Pokémon must be holding the appropriate Mega Stone, and its Trainer must have a Key Stone in order to activate this said transformation. However, unlike other evolutions, it is only temporary and it wears off after a certain amount of time. A Mega-Evolved Pokémon can have a different Ability and type from its original form." Ken explained to the crowd.

'So this is Mega Evolution the Princess was talking about.' Lance thought. 'Mega Mawile looks stronger than its original form.'

"Wow, Mega Evolution is so cool! I want to get a Key Stone and Mega Stone to Mega Evolve my Pokémon!" Whitney squealed.

'You'll need a specific Mega Stone for a Pokémon. You can't just take any Mega Stone.' Ash thought.

"What's the secret behind this Mega Evolution?" Skyla asked Jude.

Jude scratched his head. "There is information concerning Mega Evolution, but it's forbidden information, so only Pakura or Red can access it. And when it comes to Mega Evolutions, Red know best since Red knows the secrets about Mega Evolution. Or maybe you can ask Pakura, since she used it the longest."

"Forget it, I'm not telling." Ash interrupted. "And neither is Paku."

"…" Pakura remained quiet.

* * *

"A Pokémon that could evolve again?" Trip gasped, looking down at the Mega Mawile, who was now using her jaws to stop herself form being tossed to the ground via Seismic Toss.

"Good! I want that Mawile and his Key Stone, so I can become the most powerful Trainer in this tournament! Not even Champions could stop me!" Max declared greedily, as Phillip told Mega Mawile to retaliate with Play Rough, and Bruno told Machamp to use Low Sweep to slow Mega Mawile down.

"And we'll help you get that Mawile." May assured him, as Phillip's Mega Mawile to use Flash Cannon. "They can't deny you of what you want, if you want that Mawile, you will get it. And they can't stop you."

"I don't know, guys. I don't want you being thrown in jail like Misty." Brock said, as a pretty girl sat down on the empty seat behind them. Brock started flirting with her, but Croagunk came out and used Poison Jab on Brock, making him fall to the ground. Croagunk sat on Brock to make sure he doesn't get up again. The others sweatdropped at this scene.

"Don't worry, we won't get to the Tower. We'll corner him when he's alone. I bet not even he can take on all our Pokémon at once." Iris smirked. "I bet there are a lot more Pokémon that can Mega Evolve. While I'm at it, I should take his Emolga, I miss mine." She sighed wistfully.

Cilan nodded. "This Mega Evolution has a taste of the secret ingredient that can enhance the spiciness of the battle. It'll be great to get this secret ingredient."

Croagunk sat there quietly, listening to every word the traitors said.

* * *

As Mawile used Fairy Wind, and Machamp using Flamethrower to counter it, Phillip detected a slight evil intent and turned towards the direction, and saw the traitors looking at his Mawile and whispering excitedly. Well, and also a Croagunk sitting on Brock. He frowned, as judging by the gleeful look on Max's face, he knew that Max wanted his Mawile, and probably his Key Stone as well. However, he felt slight anger directed at the traitors coming from the Croagunk, but Croagunk hid it well, pretending not to be interested in their conversation.

He shrugged. Thwarting their plans would be easy, and he'll think about what Croagunk being slightly angry at the traitors that later, as Mawile's Fairy Wind overpowered Flamethrower, and Machamp was hit by Flamethrower and Fairy Wind.

"Finish it off with Crunch, and spin." Mawile grabbed Machamp with her two jaws, and she spun around and around, and finally threw Machamp against the wall at Phillip's instruction. When the dust cleared, Machamp had swirls around his eyes. Another flash of white light surrounded Mawile, and when the light cleared, everyone saw Mawile was back to her original form.

"Machamp is unable to battle! Mega Mawile wins! Elite Bruno, please send out your next Pokémon!" Evan said, and Bruno chose to send out his Hitmontop next.

"Good work, Mawile." Phillip complemented, as he returned Mawile, and sent out his Ampharos next. He was also wearing the Mega Stone, only it was around his neck.

He smiled when his Key Stone reacted with Ampharos' Mega Stone, and Ampharos also Mega Evolved. Usually, Mega Evolution can occur only once per battle, and only a single Pokémon for each Trainer may Mega Evolve. However, thanks to Ash's discovery, they can use it freely and more than one Pokémon can Mega Evolve per battle.

"You may have the first move." Phillip told Bruno.

"Don't mind if I do." Bruno replied. "Hitmontop, use Close Combat!"

* * *

"Hariyama is unable to battle. Ampharos wins. Which means, the winner is Phillip!" Everyone cheered for Phillip as he exited the battlefield with Emolga.

"There's my cue." Ash said, as he left for his battle, accepting the well-wishes from his friends and Cynthia, and making his way down to the Launch Room.

"**What Pokémon are you going to use, Ash?" **Pikachu asked, as they sat on a couch waiting for the time to step on the platform.

"Oh, he said he wanted to take on Max's Pokémon all by himself." Ash replied, holding up a Luxury Ball.

"**He's angry at what Max did to you, isn't he?" **Lucario enquired.

Ash nodded, just as a female voice announced it was time for launch. They stepped on the platform, and as usual, the glass closed in from around them, before the platform lifted them into the battlefield, which was a neutral battlefield this time.

"The battle between Trainer Max and Champion Red would commence in a neutral battlefield." Ken announced, as both the competitors were launched in the battlefield.

"Trainers, please send out your Pokémon!"

"Scpetile, I choose you!" Max sent out the Forest Pokémon.

'This must be his starter.' Ash thought, remembering Max said if he were May, he'd choose Treecko instead of Torchic.

"Your Pokemon looks strong, Max, but I'm afraid the battle would be won by me." Ash said calmly, as he took out the Luxury Ball with a gleam in his eye.

"Ha! This is one of my most powerful Pokémon. I can win this battle easily like I did the last round." Max declared.

"We'll see." Ash said softly. While it sounded gentle, the PAL Elites (except Pakura) shivered in fear because that was the very same tone Pakura would use before viciously attacking an opponent (clearly, Ash has been spending too much time with Pakura during those four years).

"Lend me your aura…." Ash said, as he threw the Luxury Ball. The Ball opened, and Max gaped in shock as the Pokémon that materialized was small, white, humanoid Pokémon. It has short, stubby legs and comparatively longer arms. There are flaps on the underside of its arms, which give the impression of long sleeves. Its eyes had small, blue triangular markings underneath. On its head is a large, yellow structure with three points extending outward: one from the top and one on either side. On each point is a blue tag, known as a "wish tag".

"…Jirachi!" Ash finished with a smirk on his face.

**BP: And that ends this chapter. There are a few things I would like to say.**

**First of all, school has started so the updates won't be every fortnight. However, I'll try my best to write the next chapters during the weekends and update as soon as I can. **

**Oh and this arc focuses on the fact that before Ash could deal with the Five Bosses, he has to deal with the internal conflict before he can do it, because before they can deal with Five Bosses as a team, he as to make sure that his team is united. It's no point if one member doesn't cooperate, such as Pakura in this arc. **

**Yes, I made it so that Ash and Pakura's past had a few thing in common: Family turned against them, lost friends, and lost their family. However, the circumstances that surrounded these losses are completely different, and I'll be explained later in the story. **

**The relationship between Pakura and the other Elites was a complicated one. They actually used to be very close, and Pakura had loved them and even spent time with them despite the fact that she stopped smiling (really smiling not fake smile and a smirk does not count) five years ago, but a certain situation created by their previous manager tore them apart, or rather, tore Pakura away from the three of them, and only Pakura knew the story due to the loss of memories from the other three. **

**Whether their memories would be restored remains to be seen. And whether or not Pakura would be friends with them again depends on what fate you readers decide for her (yes I'm letting the readers decide what would happen to her). I'll leave it up to you to conclude if she's an antagonist for this arc or an anti-hero (you can tell me in the reviews on what you think she is. Mysterypink98 and I had a debate about it, and we are still trying to convince each other)**

**She is neutral towards Ash. She doesn't particularly like him, but she doesn't dislike him either (unlike the other three Elites, whom she grew to hate at some point. How she grew to hate them would be explained later in the arc). Why she hates the entire world (except Ash and the Dragon Prince) and why she had questionable morals would be explained later. **

**Anyway the Egg given to Lance was planned a long time ago by mysterypink98 and me, even before I started turning my story idea into an actual story. The love interests of the PAL Elites themselves would start catching other Pokémon as well. **

**And if you wonder why Ash got to second base with Cynthia already, I wrote it on a whim. Anyway, Ash is going to marry Cynthia, so I figured it's fine. Besides, someone in the Elite went further than that in a relationship, and how far he/she went would be revealed after the mysteries are solved. **

**The thing is, while Ash has gained some influence from Pakura (during the four years, he isolated himself in the Plateau and trained and since one of Pakura's hobbies are training, they spent quite a lot of time together, though sometimes no conversation was held), he is still more compassionate towards people in general than Pakura is. He is still a kind hearted boy and deeply care for his friends, just that he is more wary and cautious. **

**He is also pretty calm (gained from Pakura) as he won't hit anybody or talk bad just because someone makes nasty remarks about him (like the traitors). He only states other facts to counter the remarks. With the traitors, he has a lot of bones to pick with them, which enrages the traitors because they know it is true. **

**There is a reason why I gave Ash a lot of titles (Contract Hunter, Silent Hero, Champion, and Prince of PAL.) I wanted the traitors to see what they are missing and what they could have shared if they didn't turn against Ash later in the story. I also changed his personality a lot since I want everyone to see him as a mature person (sadly he doesn't have much in the way of maturity in the anime in my opinion) **

**Ash would solve this case by Top 16/Top 8. And his answers would be given before passing down the judgement. Ash is undoubtedly the most powerful aura user just that he doesn't use his abilities as much as Pakura does, since he didn't see a need to when he's off-duty. He has many more psychic and aura abilities, just that I haven't shown it yet. Maybe I can show some in the next chapter, who knows? **

**Fun note: Tyler Clearwater, the person featured in the magazine Rosaline was reading in chapter 5, is actually based on one of the OC in my very first story. I thought I'd tell, though my readers may think it's useless information. Also, the judge is going to be an OC who is the Chairman of the Hunter's Association, and this person is also based on an OC in my first story. I thought that way it'd be fair and no one can accuse Ash of being biased, although he and Pakura still have authority on the decision of the sentence if Misty is found guilty by the judge. **

**Anyway, suggestions are always welcome! Here are some questions you might want to consider: **

**1\. Pairings in the story (For Jude and Pakura. I guess Pakura is now optional, and you can say you don't want her to be with anyone if you want)**

**2\. Any traitors you want Paul, Gary, Tracey, the Elites, or their love interests to battle in particular (outside of the tournament, since as you can see they usually foolishly challenge them to battle)**

**3\. I'll be bringing back those Pokémon abusers found in the anime, so I can kill them. Any particular way you want me to use?**

**4\. What should Pakura train Cynthia in? And should Pakura give Cynthia a Mega Stone and a Key Stone for herself? If yes, what should it be (necklace, bracelet) If no, do you want someone else to give it to her? **

**5\. Should the other love interests (Jasmine and Grimsley) get their own Key Stones and Mega Stones for their Pokémon? **

**6\. The story is split into two Arcs: The Mystery Arc and the Five Bosses Arc. Do you want the Top 8 to happen during the Mysteries Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved after Top 8) or the Five Bosses Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved after Top 16, but before Top 8) This affects the length of the second arc, since if the Mystery Arc ends at top 8, it's most likely the Five Bosses Arc would be shorter, so choose carefully. **

**7\. What Pokémon should Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine catch? (Can be any Pokémon except those listed below, and preferably no Legendaries, though you can suggest one if you wish)  
**

**For references, here is Cynthia's team: Spiritomb, Garchomp, Milotic, Gastrodon, Roserade, Lucario, Togekiss, Eelektross, Braviary, Glaceon. **

**Grimsley's team: Scrafty, Krookodile, Liepard, Bisharp, Absol, Honchkrow, Houndoom, Tyranitar.**

**Jasmine's team: Magnezone, Steelix, Metagross, Skarmory, Bronzong, Empoleon, Forretress, Mawile, Lucario, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, Klinklang.  
I got all these teams when I combined all the Pokémon they have in all the games and the rematches (including Pokémon World Tournament)**

**8\. When should the traitors find out who Red really is, and how?**

**9\. Any suggestions on how I can write the next chapter? (running out of ideas)**

**Do give as much suggestions and reviews as possible, and favourite and follow this story! And let's wish mysterypink98 good luck for her upcoming mid-year exam! **


	10. The Top 64, the Zodiacs, Court session

**BP: Thank you all for the reviews, favourites, and followers! Now, as some of you may have read in the previous chapter, Pakura seemed to be a sadistic psychopath, the thing is, she actually used to be a nice person, but circumstances made her change drastically, and make her hate the entire world.**

**She's actually a femme fatale character, and I was inspired to create her as a beautiful but insane person because no one would suspect anything bad from a pretty face in books and movies (in general). I'll accept your opinions of what to do with her once Ash takes her down (Yes, he'll win when he confronts her later) and he and everyone else reads her memories to find out the answers to all these mysteries. **

"Y-You must have poached Jirachi!" Max shouted upon recognizing that this Jirachi was the same one that he helped reawaken during the week of the thousand-year comet as his partner and friend. Max thought Jirachi saw him as his best friend, so why is he under some cloaked man, who isn't even a proper Champion's, ownership?

"Poached it? You are all the same, accusing me of poaching Pokémon, when I am the one who protects Pokémon from poachers." Ash replied calmly. "And Jirachi chose to come with me."

"No, he didn't! He wouldn't follow someone like you!" Max accused.

"_Yes I did!" _Jirachi said, glaring at Max.

"But why? If you wanted a trainer, you could've gone to me!" Max protested. And that way, he would've had a Legendary in his team, and the PAL Elites won't be able to stop him with a powerful Legendary on his side.

"_He is my new best friend now, Max!" _Jirachi turned away. _"I'm ashamed to be friends with you." _

"Both Trainers ready?" Evan asked.

"No, not until this Red-" he said the name in venom, "-returns Jirachi to me!"

"Evan, just continue with the match." Ash interrupted. "I don't want to waste any time, and there are still people who want to battle today."

"Wait!" Max started, but Evan nodded and said, "Let the battle begin!"

"Jirachi, start things off with Trick Room!" Ash commanded. He knew Sceptile is faster than Jirachi (based on max speed), so he decided to use Trick Room to reverse their speed. Max didn't do anything, still dumbstruck on the fact that Jirachi is under Champion Red's ownership.

"Now, use Flash Cannon!" Ash commanded.

Max didn't say anything, thinking Jirachi would hesitate, but instead, it shot a powerful and fast Flash Cannon towards Sceptile.

"Sceptile, use Detect, hurry!" Max yelled at the last second. Sceptile's eyes glowed light blue and it narrowly dodged the Flash Cannon.

'Hmm…Jirachi was too far from Sceptile at the time of use, if not, it would've hit even if he used Detect.' Ash thought. "Alright, use Shadow Ball!"

"Dodge it, Sceptile!" Max countered.

As Sceptile dodged the Shadow Ball by jumping, Ash said, "Use Aerial Ace!" Since Sceptile was mid-air when Ash commanded Jirachi to use Aerial Ace, it hit Sceptile, sending him to the ground, but he got up.

"Use Swift!" Ash commanded.

"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade to take on the Swift!" Max yelled. The four leaves on Sceptile's wrists glowed light green and formed into two, and Sceptile began hitting the Swift Stars back at Jirachi.

"Jirachi, use Toxic!" Ash took advantage of the distraction to fire a Toxic at Sceptile. Jirachi spat a purple liquid at Sceptile, and when it hit, Sceptile is glowing purple, indicating a poisoned status.

"Sceptile!" Max shouted in concern.

"Use Zen Headbutt!" Ash said, and Jirachi struck Sceptile with its head, making Sceptile flinch.

"Sceptile, use Mega Drain!" Max commanded.

"Psychic to stop him in his tracks!" Ash said to Jirachi. Jirachi nodded, and unleashed a powerful Psychic and lifted Sceptile in the air.

"Finish it. Throw him in the air, and use Signal Beam, followed by Ice Punch!" Jirachi threw Sceptile in the air, opened his third eye located on his stomach, and fired a rainbow coloured beam at a falling Sceptile.

After Scpetile fell to the ground, Jirachi didn't give him a chance to recover, and punched his stomach, creating a huge crater around the spot where Sceptile was punched on the ground. Everyone was surprised at the sheer strength shown by Jirachi just by one Ice Punch. When the smoke cleared, it was shown Sceptile was down with swirls in his eyes.

"Sceptile is unable to battle! Trainer Max, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"You can do better than that, can't you?" Ash asked.

Max glared at him, as he returned his Scpetile, and took out another Pokéball.

"Breloom, I choose you!" He sent out the Mushroom Pokémon.

"You know you're at a disadvantage, right?" Ash raised his eyebrows.

"Shut up." Max advised him. "I can win even at a disadvantage."

"Champion Red, are you switching?" Evan asked.

Ash shook his head. "I'll stick with Jirachi until the end or when it faints."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the bleachers, May was seething. "I knew he was a poacher! No matter what he says, the evidence is right there before our eyes!"

"Him having at least five Legendaries makes a really shocking but suspicious taste." Cilan agreed.

"What else did he poach, I wonder?" Trip asked. "So what do we do?"

"Well, we can't confront him outright. Remember, he's much stronger than we are, so we better thread carefully."

"What can we do? Kidnap one of his Elites?" Iris suggested.

"Great idea. I know of some substances that can knock a person out, and all we need to do is to inject it on one's skin in order for it to take effect." Brock said.

"Hey, sounds good. So who should we target?" May asked.

Brock looked at the Elites in the VIP Box, and immediately, his eyes were on Pakura, who was quietly watching the match, as opposed to her Elites, who were exchanging comments on the battle.

"Her." He pointed to Pakura. "I think she's probably the closest to Red."

* * *

"Breloom, use Stun Spore!" Max commanded.

"Blow it away with Icy Wind!" Ash countered. Both the Stun Spore and Icy Wind clashed, only to be quickly overpowered by Icy Wind, and both attacks hit Breloom, slowing him down and paralyzing him.

"And it looks like Champion Red's Icy Wind easily overpowered Stun Spore, and Breloom is now damaged by both attacks! Breloom is now paralyzed and slowed down from both attacks! Can Trainer Max get out of this pinch?" Ken wondered.

Max glared at Ash, and commanded Breloom to use Drain Punch, and Ash asked Jirachi to use Fire Punch. What Max didn't notice was Jirachi activated Fire Punch on both hands so when their respective moves connected, Jirachi took advantage of the momentarily distraction to use the other hand to punch Breloom, who was sent flying.

Breloom got up, but Max looked hesitant to call out a move.

"Out of moves?" Ash asked.

"Not yet!" Max yelled. "Breloom, use Hyper Beam!"

"I'm impressed that your Breloom knows Hyper Beam, Max." Ash said. "But, you'll need more than that to take Jirachi down. Jirachi, Shadow Ball!" The Hyper Beam hit the Shadow Ball, which exploded and it formed a purple wall between the two Pokémon, obscuring each other from view.

"Use Swift!" Ash commanded. To Breloom, the Swift stars suddenly appeared out of nowhere through the purple wall, and it hit him effectively.

"Don't let it recover! Use Aerial Ace!"

Jirachi then used Aerial Ace, which rammed Breloom against the wall, and dust clouds appeared, covering both Pokémon. When it cleared, Breloom was shown with swirls in his eyes.

"Breloom is unable to battle! Trainer Max, please send out your final Pokémon!"

Max returned Breloom and there was a lot of hate in his eyes as he sent out his Gallade.

"Gallade, I choose you!" Max hollered.

"It looks like Gallade is your strongest Pokémon." Ash scanned Gallade and checked the friendship meter using his CommuniDex. Much to his disappointment and amusement, the result he got was quite low. "But it looks like your bonds are not deep enough to have a Mega Evolution."

"Gallade can Mega Evolve?" Max's eyes lit up greedily.

"Yes." Ash held up a Galladite for him to see. It was similar to a Gardevoirite, but with a lighter red and lighter green.

"Give it to me! I want it!" Max demanded.

"And why should I give it to you just because you want it? You aren't my superior, you know." Ash replied calmly, as he placed the Galladite in his pocket. "Anyway, your bond with Gallade is only average, so you can't activate Mega Evolution even if you wanted to."

"Yes we can!" Max insisted. "You're just sore because you don't own an awesome Gallade like me."

"It takes more than just a Key Stone and a Mega Stone to Mega Evolve your Pokémon. It takes a deep bond as well."

"You're just making it up so I can't use Mega Evolution."

"Fine." Ash doesn't want to hear Max whining anymore. "Just this once, I'll lend you a Key Stone and the Galladite to Mega Evolve in this battle, if you would just shut up. Although I doubt you can activate it." Ash folded his arms. Max immediately nodded, and held his hands out for the two items.

Ash hesitated, as he thought of the consequences that may happen. "But I need to warn you…" Before he could finish his sentence, Max impatiently took the two items from his hands.

"He didn't even let me finish." Ash said.

"**Just leave him be, Ash. Anyway, he suffers in the end, not you." **Pikachu replied.

"Max, it isn't…" Ash started, but it was too late.

Max grinned, and after he handed the Galladite to his Gallade he said, "Gallade, Mega Evolve!" The Mega Evolution lights appeared, and Gallade Mega Evolved. Mega Gallade had red plates on its arms, and the helmet and cape-like protrusions that appeared on its head and back gave it a knightly appearance.

"Alright!" Max cheered. His friends were smiling smugly, thinking Max had proved Ash wrong. Ash took back his Mega Glove from Max, much to his displeasure, and Ash reminded him he'd lend him just this once. Max reluctantly nodded, as he did keep his promise.

"Are both sides ready?" Evan asked, as both of them nodded. "Alright, then, battle begin!"

"Alright, Gallade, use Psycho Cut!" Max commanded. Gallade did, and Ash asked Jirachi to dodge. Jirachi did, and the Psycho cut hit the battlefield, and small explosions occurred where Psycho Cut hit.

"Wow, Mega Gallade's even more powerful!" Max commented. "Alright, use Leaf Blade!"

"Counter with Dazzling Gleam!" Ash countered. The Dazzling Gleam caused Mega Gallade to take damage and distract him. "Now, use Aerial Ace!" Jirachi's Aerial Ace was strong enough to send Mega Gallade flying towards the wall, but Mega Gallade used one of his blades to prevent himself from hitting the wall.

"Great reflexes too! Good job, Gallade!" Max encouraged. "Now, use Focus Blast!" However, Gallade didn't do a thing.

"Gallade, what's wrong?" Max asked, worried when Gallade didn't make a move after a minute.

That was when Ash noticed that Mega Gallade's red eyes were glowing.

"**Uh oh. That's not good." **Lucario said, as he took a step back.

"**Yeah, it looks like Gallade's being manipulated by the power." **Pikachu added.

Mega Gallade charged towards Jirachi, about to use Close Combat.

"Jirachi, use Psychic!" Jirachi obeyed, and used Psychic to throw Mega Gallade against the wall. Mega Gallade got up, and upon seeing Pikachu, teleported behind Ash, and activated Leaf Blade. Ash jumped, as the Leaf Blade narrowly missed his shoulder.

"Gallade, what are you doing?" Max shouted.

But Mega Gallade was no longer listening, as it started to attack Lucario with Earthquake for defending Ash with Aura Sphere.

"And it looks like Mega Gallade is on a rampage! How is this situation going to end?" Ken wondered.

"Champion Red, do you want to get help?" Evan asked.

"No, this is still a battle. I'll handle it myself." Ash replied. Evan nodded, and continued the battle.

* * *

"What's going on?" Jude yelled. "What's happening?"

"I don't know!" Rosaline replied. "This never happened with us."

"Is this what would happen if a Pokémon Mega Evolved with low bonds with the Trainer?" Phillip wondered, looking down at the rampaging Mega Gallade.

"…" Pakura stayed quiet.

"Oh My God…" Cynthia was worried for Ash as Jirachi started to attack Mega Gallade so he'll turn his attention to him. Sure enough, Gallade started attacking Jirachi.

"Why don't you say something?" Grimsley asked Pakura.

Pakura shrugged. "For what? I expected it. Pokémon who couldn't cope with the sudden increase of power during Mega Evolution becomes like that, which is why a deep bond with Pokémon is required. It's so that the Pokémon would be able to hear the owner's voice to help calm it down. Otherwise, the Pokémon would just see everyone as enemies."

"What? Why didn't you say anything?" Jasmine yelped.

"Max was the one who snatched the things out of his hands before he could finish the warning. So I think he deserves it. Besides, Red isn't the one suffering, so why worry?"

"Well, fair point." Phillip said, settling back on his seat to watch the show.

"Phillip!" Rosaline was appalled Phillip would take her side.

"It's true. Red did try, but Max didn't listen. So that should teach him a lesson." Phillip replied.

'Wow, I like his assertive side. It looks like he can be assertive if he really want to be.' Jasmine thought.

* * *

"Jirachi, Energy Ball!" Ash commanded, and Jirachi shot an Energy Ball at Mega Gallade. Mega Gallade simply used Leaf Blade to slice it in half, and shot a Signal Beam at Jirachi, much to Max's dismay, since Mega Gallade was disobeying him.

"Counter with Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled.

"Gallade, dodge it!" Max attempted to command Gallade, but Gallade simply held up Signal beam, and both clashed in the middle.

"Use Shadow Ball!" Ash said, and Jirachi charged a Shadow Ball, and the Thunderbolt helped electrify it, increasing the power. Jirachi shot the powered up Shadow Ball at Mega Gallade.

"Gallade, you've got to dodge! Hurry!" Max yelled desperately. However, it was futile, and Mega Gallade was damaged badly by the electric-infused Shadow Ball.

"Thunder Wave!" Ash instructed, and Jirachi paralyzed Mega Gallade.

Mega Gallade started using Close Combat immediately, much to Max's horror.

"Jirachi, dodge them all!" Jirachi agilely dodged the barrage of punches and kicks. Soon, the paralysis took its toll and Mega Gallade groaned in agony, and saw Ash, Pikachu and Lucario, and assumed they were enemies as well. He then shot a Shadow Ball at the three of them. However, Jirachi got in the way, and used Protect.

Suddenly, Mega Gallade then let out a pained scream, and turned back to normal, falling to his knees, before hitting the ground. Ash retrieved the Galladite with teleportation, and silently placed the Galladite back into his pocket.

"Gallade is unable to battle! Jirachi wins! And thus, the winner is Champion Red!"

"What happened, Gallade?" Max wailed. "You were doing so well!"

"Gallade couldn't cope with the sheer and sudden increase of power in Mega Evolution, and ends up getting manipulated by the said power. That is why it's not advised to use it when you don't have a deep bond with Pokémon."

"You cheater! You must have tampered with it didn't you?" Max accused. "Isn't it enough you stole Jirachi? Do you have to make Gallade suffer too?" Ash heard Max's friends jeering at him as well, while the rest of the audience stayed silent, wondering what he would say to counter Max's accusations.

"Not even I can tamper with items that has a power of their own." Ash replied. "I did try to warn you, but you snatched the stones away and Mega Evolved Gallade before I can even tell you. As for stealing Jirachi, Jirachi clearly said that he chose to come with me. I think everyone can witness to that."

"I agree." A somewhat familiar voice among the audience said. Ash turned to see Savannah, a member (and probably leader) of the Mothers for Pokémon, a group that idolized Pokémon Trainers and Coordinators. Apparently, they came here since this is a gathering for famous Trainers and Coordinators, and those two are their obsessions. And judging by the looks they are giving him, he was probably one of their current admirations.

"Me too." A little boy said, and slowly, the audience began to express their agreement with Ash's statement, humiliating Max.

He nodded to Evan, who went to call the paramedics for Gallade. Max watched in distress as the paramedics rushed Gallade to the Pokémon Center.

* * *

"It looks like Champion Red kept his promise." Paul smiled. He was sitting among Ash's former rivals from Kanto to Sinnoh, some whom they had met in their journeys.

"Yeah." Gary nodded.

"Wait, you guys are acquainted with Champion Red?" Harrison, Ash's rival in Johto, said incredulously.

"Yeah, how come you didn't tell us?" Ritchie was slightly pissed, as his Pikachu, Sparky was perched on his shoulder.

"I'm so going to fine you!" Barry yelled. He stayed and watched the tournament despite being kicked out at the Top 128 by Agatha, the Ghost type Elite.

"Can you introduce us?" Tyson asked eagerly. He had admired Red ever since he first saw him battle in that very first round alongside Champion Cynthia.

Paul gave him a look that said, "I'm not going to let you use my status as his friend to bypass the fans that are waiting to meet him up close"

Gary frowned. "I don't think their manager Phlox would allow a meeting with just anybody."

"Yeah. Sometimes, if we want to send a message, we'd ask Pakura to send it. She's practically his right-hand man….or woman, for that matter." Tracey said.

"And if you want us to introduce her, forget it, even the male Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions admire her beauty, and she doesn't pay attention to them, so what makes you think she'll pay attention to you?" Paul said, seeing the looks on the boys' faces at the mention that they knew Pakura.

"If only we have a chance to meet any of the PAL Elites up close." Morrison commented. "I'd be one very happy trainer."

* * *

"I'll go with him!" May said, as she ran, stepping on people's toes on the way, and ignoring the glares they sent to her. Those people weren't important, her brother is. How dare Red humiliate him when he had done nothing wrong, and she was sure he had tampered with the Key Stone or the Mega Stone. When she finds out how he did it, he'll lose his titles before he could say, "Mega Evolve".

"I'll come with you." Brock volunteered.

"Iris and I would stay here. We want to support Cilan." Trip said, as Iris nodded.

"Alright. Fill us in if we missed his match." Brock replied, as he and May made their way to the Pokémon Center.

"The next match would take place in Icy Terrian, and our two competitors are Elite Jude and Leader Cilan! How would a battle between two high class Connoisseurs go?" Ken wondered as both of them were launched into the battlefield. Jude was launched along with Purrloin.

* * *

"I didn't think you were that Jude Harrison." Cilan said, trying not to look at Jude's Purrloin. Now he thought of it, he did a fact sheet on the S-Class Connoisseurs and he copied down the name of the youngest one, who was Jude. But even then he didn't connect him with Jude the PAL Elite member, since he didn't know Jude's last name (everyone mentions him by his first name), and the picture of him must have been totally old, since Jude had a slightly messy version of black hair, the back of it nearly reached his shoulders and the bangs had to be brushed to one side otherwise it would cover his eyes and the picture shown in the encyclopaedia he used was someone with short brown pageboy style hair.

"I expected no one would recognize me since I decided to change my hair style, and remove the brown hair dye and keep my natural hair colour after I moved here." Jude replied smoothly. "Why don't we start out battle? I want to see what an A-Class like you can do."

"With pleasure." Cilan nodded. Jude thought if it wasn't for the fact that he betrayed Ash, he might have been fooled to think Cilan had a gentlemanly behaviour about him, and think that he was harmless. "Go, my Pokémon!" The Pokéball opened to reveal a Stunfisk.

"Corsola, show them what you got!" Jude sent out the Corsola that formerly belonged to Misty.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"You may have the first move." Jude said.

"Don't mind if I do. Stunfisk, use Thunderbolt!"

"Use the ice to slide away!" Corsola obeyed and she slid away, effectively dodging the Thunderbolt. Stunfisk kept firing the Thunderbolt, but each time, Corsola simply slid away.

"Alright, then, use Scald on the battlefield!" Stunfisk then released boiling hot water on the ice battlefield, effectively melting it.

"And it looks like the Scald has managed to melt the battlefield! What is Leader Cilan's strategy?" Ken asked. Eventually, the ice was all melted and it became a Water battlefield. The remaining Ice was where Corsola and Stunfisk were standing at.

"Into the water, Stunfisk!" Cilan commanded. Stunfisk dove into the water and all Jude could see was a dark shape in the water. However, he could still detect where Stunfisk is.

"Your Pokémon are fairly close to each other. However, I've seen better." Jude commented.

"I could say the same for you. Your Corsola has high marks in Attack and Defence. However, there is a foreign taste between your relationship with Corsola, which makes your marriage with Corsola debatable."

"Then your tasting is questionable. I am very sure I can Mega Evolve all my Pokémon if those Mega Stones exist." Jude said.

* * *

"What? He is the S-Class Connoisseur? How come Cilan gets to battle him and not me?" Burgundy screamed from the middle row of the bleachers. She was sitting with Georgia, Stephan, Luke, Bianca, Cameron and Virgil. It was almost like a reunion among Ash's Unova rivals. However, only Virgil is still in the running for the Cup, as the rest were kicked out in the Top 128, mainly by the other regional Elite Fours. Virgil was up against Lucian in the afternoon.

"Would you shut up?" Georgia grumbled. She was in a bad mood ever since her loss to Lance, but she decided to watch the tournament until the end.

"You're just sore because you lost to the Dragon Master with the most powerful flavour." Burgundy smirked.

"When I find and defeat the members of the Dragon Duo, you'll be singing a different tune." Georgia huffed.

"And who is this Dragon Duo?" Virgil asked.

"They are renowned to be the strongest Dragon users in the Pokémon World. Apparently, every single Dragon user dreams of battling the members one day, including Iris herself. She keeps talking about finding them to battle them, but apparently, they are very evasive so no one can find them so far."

"Yeah, as if you can find them. I bet they won't even accept a battle if you do ask for it." Burgundy said.

"What did you say?" Georgia shouted, as Stephan and Cameron pulled them apart.

"Alright, keep it down, girls." Stephan said.

"Yeah, we would disturb the others." Cameron added.

"Luke, what are you doing?" Bianca asked, trying to get his Zorua, who just kept dodging her clutches. Luke was holding his camera towards the VIP Box.

"Er…nothing!" Luke lowered his camera.

"Yeah right. You're trying to get a shot of the Champion Red's face!" Stephan pointed at him. "Forget it. That guy never takes off his hood and the distance where we are sitting would prevent a good shot even if you try to get a glimpse of his face from below."

"Yeah, but at least I can get a glimpse of the other Elites." Luke grinned. "All of them are pretty good looking, especially the Pakura girl."

"Oh yeah she is." The boys started looking dreamy at the thought of the beautiful Elite Leader, and the girls huffed at their sudden change of attitude. Well, all except Virgil, but even he was blushing slightly. However, he knew she would never go any of them, since she most likely had very high standards when it comes to a boyfriend. He refrained from saying anything out loud, since he didn't really want to ruin their so-called hormone dreams.

"Anyway, speaking of which, have you guys seen Ash in this tournament?" Bianca spoke up. "I was hoping he's in here."

"Cameron and I asked Iris and Cilan earlier, and they said they haven't seen him since they separated when they left Unova." Stephan said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, they sounded hostile when they said Ash's name." Cameron said. "Even told us that we shouldn't associate with him anymore."

"Maybe they had a fight?" Virgil suggested.

"For four years?" Georgia was incredulous.

"I think there's a suspicious taste." Burgundy commented.

"I'm sure he's fine, and he's probably in this region to. He wouldn't miss a tournament for the world." Stephan said confidently, as Jude's Corsola finished Stunfisk off with an effective Ice Beam that froze Stunfisk, followed by a powerful Earthquake.

"Yeah, I want to know what happened too." Virgil said, as his Eevee nodded.

"Stunfisk is unable to battle! Corsola wins! Leader Cilan, please send out your next Pokémon!"

Cilan chose Crustle as his next Pokémon, and Jude chose to switch Corsola for Alomomola.

"Trainers ready?" Both of them nodded. "Alright….battle begin!"

* * *

"Whose idea was it to pit two high class Connoisseurs together?" Ash groaned. During the battle, all he heard was them telling each other about how competent the opponent's Pokémon is with their Trainer. He watched as Jude ordered Alomomola to use Scald on Crustle, and Cilan countering with Withdraw. Jude then changed his tactics, and use Ice Beam, freezing Crustle.

"Well, I think the audience would vote for Jude's judgement since his is more understandable." Cynthia replied. "I don't really get Cilan saying something about the taste, or marriage….whatever that means."

"Same here." Rosaline agreed. "Do all Connoisseurs talk like that?"

"Nah." Ash disagreed, as Crustle managed to break out of the ice, and thus Jude managed to fire a Toxic on Crustle, poisoning it. "I think Cilan probably talked like this since he likes cooking and he probably imagined a battle to be like cooking a meal. I think Burgundy imitated his style as well, thus she referred to her evaluating Pokémon as "tasting time" too."

Cilan then used the opportunity to show off a new move he had been working on, called Façade, a move that increased Attack when the user is burned, paralyzed, or poisoned. As Crustle charged towards Alomomola, Jude asked Alomomola to use Scald, and Crustle took the brunt of the attack.

"Not bad. Cilan actually prepared a few moves in case his Pokémon is in a pinch." Grimsley said.

"You're right. And now Crustle's using Flail on Alomomola, or trying to at least." Jasmine replied, watching as Flail was stoped when Alomomola use Blizzard, and finished Crustle off with Surf.

"Crustle is unable to battle. Leader Cilan, please send out your final Pokémon."

"I bet he'll send out Pansage." Ash said. True to his words, when he send out his final Pokémon, it was Pansage. Jude returned his Alomomola, and asked his Purrloin to get on the battlefield, much to Cilan's chagrin.

"I don't know if Jude sent her out to scare Cilan, or he had planned beforehand." Cynthia commented.

"Either one is possible." Ash shrugged.

"…" Pakura didn't say a word, and critically watched as Jude ordered Purrloin to use Assist against Pansage's Solar Beam, which turn out to be Flamethrower. Both the attacks clashed in the middle, and both attacks exploded in a cloud of smoke.

"Pansage, use Dig!" Cilan commanded.

"Shadow Ball into the hole!" Jude countered, and Purloin fired a Shadow Ball. It caused Pansage to jump out, and used Bullet Seed on instinct. It hit Purrloin, and she fell to the ground. However, she simply got up, and shook her head before getting into battle stance.

"Now, use Rock Tomb!" Cilan said.

"Use Shadow Claw to destroy those boulders!" Jude instructed, and Purrloin destroyed them easily. "Now, use Night Slash!"

"Solar Beam, once more!" The Solar Beam hit Purrloin before Purrloin was able to reach Pansage, and she hit the ground. As she fell, Pansage used Bullet Seed, which Purrloin managed to use Thunder Wave to destroy the projectiles. Pansage then used Low Sweep on a still getting up Purrloin, followed by another Bullet Seed, and she was sent flying to Jude's feet.

"Purrloin, are you alright?" Jude asked, concerned, as Low Sweep was a super effective move.

"**I'm….not…done yet!" **Purrloin shouted, and she suddenly glowed white.

"What's this? It looks like Purrloin is evolving!" Ken announced, as the audience waited in anticipation.

Purrloin's head became bigger, whiskers started growing on her face, the body became more slender, the legs became bigger, and the tail became longer. The place where Purrloin once stood had a beautiful feline Pokémon that now stood on all fours.

"What do we know? Jude's Purrloin evolved into a beautiful Liepard! Let's see what Liepard has in store for all of us!" Ken commented, as the audience cheered for Liepard.

"And it looks like you learnt a new move too, Liepard. Torment, go!" Liepard used the move, and now Pansage was unable to use the same move twice in a row.

"Now, use Attract!"

"Bullet Seed to destroy the hearts!" Cilan countered, forgetting that Pansage can't use Bullet Seed due to it being the last move he used during the battle. Pansage was affected by the hearts, as Liepard is of the opposite gender.

"Toxic, go!" Liepard badly poisoned Pansage, and Pansage's movements were hindered.

"Pansage, pull yourself together, and use Bite!"

"Finish it off with Assist once more." Assist turned out to be Venoshock, and it dealt double damage thanks to the Poison status Pansage had, and Pansage, having run out of energy, fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"And Pansage is unable to battle! Liepard wins! Which means, the victor is Jude!" As Jude made his way back, he politely waved to the crowd, and some of the girls shrieked, as some of them sitting at the front rows held out their hands, trying to touch him.

Ash couldn't blame them, since Jude was a supermodel, he was renowned as the most handsome boy in PAL, and him running his own shop (though Pakura does the bookkeeping and bill paying for him since he isn't very good at numbers) and being a popular socialite in addition to his Elite status only adds to the reasons why girls want him. But as far as Ash is concerned, Jude would probably never get a girlfriend after what happened to him.

* * *

"What are you watching, Phillip?" Jasmine asked. Phillip jumped, as he was so engrossed with watching something at his laptop when there are many people it didn't occur to him that someone would get curious and question what he was watching.

"I-It's nothing." Phillip tried to close the laptop and stow it away, but Jasmine took the laptop away from him, and looked at the screen. The group gathered to see what Phillip was looking at. It was apparently a video of Rosaline painting a picture of the scenery while her Pokémon played around her, and her Delphox accidentally knocked over one of the paint, accidentally splashing Espeon, which made Epseon look like a shiny version of herself. Everyone started laughing, and the video ended like that. There was a big number 1 at the corner of the video.

"Oh, it looks like our PokéVision video won first place again this week." Ash commented absent-mindedly.

"We won?" Rosaline sounded excited.

"Wait, what?" Cynthia was confused.

"Well, PokéVision are promotional videos made in our region. Pokémon Trainers can do anything to feature themselves and their Pokémon for a theme. They can do anything really, like showing off their fashion sense by dressing up as their own Pokémon, cooking together by making Poké Puffs or other sweets, or just express their bonds together by spending time with each other. These videos can be uploaded into the video website, and the best 10 PokéVisions later be viewed in the Pokémon Center TV. It's very popular in the PAL region considering our environment is a perfect place for filming." Ash explained, and at the same time he was watching as Ken announced that the next battle is on Grassy Terrain.

"Yeah, we actually take turns to film a video each week, and we usually win first place." Jude said, as he came in the VIP Box with his newly evolved Liepard.

"We used to do it for fun, but since our videos are so popular, they even allowed us to start our own web show called PAL Online. However, it's only on PAL websites, so you guys won't be able to access it if you're back in your own region."

"And our two contestants are Elite Aaron and Elite Pakura!" As he said this, the two of them were being launched in the battlefield. "This battle between two people who holds the same Trainer Class is sure to be one intense exchange!" Rosaline added, turning to watch Evan say, "Elites, please send out your Pokémon!"

"Now, Drapion, you're the star!" Aaron sent out his Drapion.

"Let's go, Gardevoir!" Pakura sent out the Embrace Pokémon. The Gardevoir was wearing a Mega Stone on her neck.

"And it looks like Princess Pakura decided to send Gardevoir out against Drapion. In this circumstances, Elite Aaron would have double advantage, so what does Princess Pakura have in mind?" Ken wondered aloud.

"Elites ready?" Evan asked. Both Aaron and Pakura nodded. "Then, battle begin!"

"Wait…why would she send out a Gardevoir against Drapion? She's at a double disadvantage here." Jude enquired.

"Beats me, but knowing Paku, she probably had something in mind, like Ken said." Ash replied.

"And what do you do on your web show?" Grimsley asked, interrupting them.

"A lot of stuff, from a day in our lives, to advertising clothing, showing the viewers the new combination we developed and how to execute it perfectly, and even discussing various topics and rumours that are in PAL." Phillip replied, taking his laptop back, and closing it.

"Can we watch them?" Jasmine asked eagerly.

"Yeah I want to see what you guys have filmed so far in your web series." Cynthia added, looking to Grimsley, who nodded in support.

"Later." Ash said, as he now turned his full attention to the battle.

* * *

"Drapion, use Shadow Ball!" Aaron commanded.

"Psychic it back, Gardevoir." Pakura countered. Although the Shadow Ball hit, it wasn't very effective.

"Are you going to Mega Evolve that Pokémon?" Aaron asked, pointing to Gardevoir's Mega Stone.

Pakura shook her head. "With you? I don't think I need to."

"Why you-!" Aaron glared at her.

"Gardevoir, use Attract, followed by Draining Kiss." Pakura cut him off. The Attract hit, and Drapion became infatuated. The Draining Kiss also took some of Drapion's health away and recovering Gardevoir's at the same time.

"Use Moonblast." Pakura instructed, and Gardevoir shot a powerful Moonblast at Drapion.

"Drapion, use Poison Fang!" Aaron yelled, and Drapion did, despite his infatuated status, managing to inflict damage on Gardevoir.

'Gardevoir's Trace copied Drapion's Battle Armour, so it's unlikely that it's a critical hit. However, Gardevoir, being part Fairy, is now weak to Poison.' Pakura thought. "Gardevoir, use Will-O-Wisp." Gardevoir did, and it burned Drapion, who let go of her. He now had the burn status condition.

"Use Thunderbolt." Pakura said, and Gardevoir managed to hit Drapion before he could recover.

"Drapion, use Sludge Bomb!" Aaron commanded, and when the Sludge Bomb hit, Gardevoir was glowing purple, indicating a poisoned status.

"Use Façade." Pakura countered.

"Drapion, use Dig!" Drapion narrowly missed the Façade attack. Gardevoir stopped, and looked around.

Just then, Drapion reappeared from the ground, and gave Gardevoir a Night Slash, and a Venoshock, which Pakura quickly countered with Hyper Beam. Both clashed, and the Hyper Beam managed to overpower Venoshock, and Drapion was sent to the ground. Gardevoir groaned as the poison is taking a toll on her.

"Drapion, one more Shadow Ball!"

"Destiny Bond." Pakura countered. The Shadow Ball hit Gardevoir, and she fell to the ground with swirls in her eyes. However, two swirling purple lights came out of Gardevoir's eyes to Drapion. Drapion became surrounded by a purple aura and instantly fainted.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle. Elites, please send out your next Pokémon."

* * *

"Gardevoir is stronger than that. Just that against Drapion she had a double disadvantage, and her most powerful Psychic moves won't even work. Paku probably knew of the powerful Poison type Pokémon, and her Fairy types won't be very effective, so she made use of Destiny Bond. Clever move." Ash commented.

"So she was gunning for that moment all along?"

"Apparently." Ash replied. "Why else would she send a Pokémon where most of the moves are useless against the opponent? When she sent Gardevoir out, I knew she had something up her sleeve."

As he spoke, Aaron sent out his Beautifly and Pakura sent out Glaceon.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

* * *

"Vespiquen is unable to battle! Glaceon wins! Which means, the winner is Pakura!" Ken announced, as everyone cheered.

"Oh man! Now I'm as useless as Lance!" Aaron cried out.

'I'm not useless!' Lance thought, slightly ticked off.

"Yes you are, you annoying cockroach." Pakura muttered, as she left the battlefield.

"Well that was harsh." Lucian commented, as they started laughing.

"I wonder why she doesn't like interacting with us." Bertha said, as Aaron returned to the VIP Box shaken about his loss.

"That's because she thinks social interactions are a hassle. She's never good when it comes to manners, small talk, or even smiling. She thinks it's too troublesome. She doesn't talk much either, and when she does it's usually very sarcastic." Ash replied.

"Evan to you guys?" Brycen asked.

"Yeah, even to us. Alright, she's fairly polite to our Champion, since she somewhat respect him." Jude nodded to Ash.

"How do you put up with her?" Maylene frowned.

"Well, as long as you leave her alone she'll leave you alone." Phillip shrugged, as Cynthia got up and made her way to the door with Caitlin as her match is next. "No big deal actually."

"But really, she's a bit too gloomy and unfriendly, if you ask me." Rosaline commented, as Cynthia opened the door, only to gape as Pakura was standing there.

"How much did you hear?" Cynthia asked.

"From the moment Bertha asked why I don't like interacting with people." Pakura replied, as she glared at them to get a move on, before facing her Elites. "That is why I don't like social interaction, because all you do is talk about people behind their backs. It's disgusting. And if you want to talk about me, make sure I'm not on my way back." With that, she slammed the VIP Box door.

"Should we go after her?" Phillip sounded worried.

Ash shook his head. "Even if she stayed here, she'd have left halfway through Rosaline's match because I remember she was going downtown to stock up on some ingredients and then picking some berries in the forest to make more Poképuffs. But she's right, we shouldn't really gossip about other people behind their backs. That's how arguments start, and relationships fall apart." After all, he knew it first-hand ever since the betrayal four years ago.

* * *

"So, should we go for lunch?" Cynthia suggested. The lunch break began as soon as Rosaline won against Will, although she had lost her Talonflame to him. Everyone had won their matches for today, but Ash knew that some would start losing from Top 32 onwards, as the weak ones would be weeded out by then, and the strong ones would be pitted against each other. As the traitors are no longer in the competition, he wondered who he would be up against.

"Yeah, we should." Rosaline nodded, as they filed out of the Battle Arena lobby.

Once again, they walked past Jessie, James and Meowth, along with Wobbuffet, who were selling items based on the Pokémon that had fought today. James was nursing a bruised head, as Jessie looked like she was angry with him.

"So, how did the date go?" Ash asked them.

"Horrible! James took me to see a movie that was terrible!" Jessie yelled, hitting James once again with her expensive purse. Thanks to their very successful sales and their jobs of being League Officials, they can now afford more expensive items and even luxury food.

"Ouch! Dear, you don't have to hit so hard!" James whimpered.

"Dear?" Jasmine asked curiously.

"Oh, those two are married. They married 3 years ago." Phillip replied.

"Yeah, they married way too late, though. How old are you guys now? 32?" Ash inadvertently let slip their age.

"You-!" Jessie didn't like her gave being said out, as a woman's age is usually kept secret, and she threw one of the products on sale at him (a Jirachi statue). Ash used telekinesis to slow down the projectile, before catching it.

"Well, thanks for the free gift!" Ash announced, before walking away with his friends.

"Hey, come back here! You have to pay for it!" James yelled, but he was laughing. He was immediately silenced again by Jessie hitting him with her purse.

"I think this would be a great gift for Jirachi." Ash said, holding up the statue. A slight shake of Jirachi's Luxury Ball indicated that he agreed.

They stepped into the elevator, and they zipped up to the twelfth floor, where lunch was waiting for them. They filled the bowls for their Pokémon, before sending them out, and then going to the table to get their own lunch.

As they ate, the conversation somehow got to the web show the Elites had.

"Oh yeah, Phillip's the main cameraperson for the show, since he's good at operating all sorts of technological devices and machines. I usually do the prop work, and finally, Rosaline is the location scout. Jude and Phillip are also executive producers, and Pakura is usually the one who keeps us in schedule. We usually take turns to be in the camera." Ash explained the roles each of them had in the show.

"So all of you are the main cast?" Grimsley asked.

"Something like that." Ash replied, as he drank his cranberry juice.

"Do you have any side casts?" Cynthia enquired.

"No, we usually produce the show by ourselves."

"Yeah, we have all we need among ourselves, and we only borrow costumes from the Pokémon Center once in a blue moon." Phillip answered.

"They have costumes in the Pokémon Center?" Jasmine was incredulous.

"Oh yeah, they provide equipment and costumes for trainers who want to make a PokéVision video. There's also a service where they help you cut and edit to make your videos look their best." Jude nodded, as he ate his mashed potatoes.

"Wow." Cynthia was impressed. She wondered if she should try making a PokéVision video, as it sounded like fun.

"What are you going to do after the trial?" Ash decided to change the subject. After the one hour lunch break, they only have 20 minutes until Misty's trial, so they decided to head to the court right after lunch.

"I think I'll go do some sports at the Sports Complex." Jude said.

"I'll come with you." Phillip piped up.

"You guys do sports?" Cynthia was surprised.

"Er….yeah, we do it to keep fit and maintain our stamina." Rosaline said. "Jude is the athlete of our group, though. He's the best when it comes to sports. Besides, we think sports is fun."

"So what is your favourite sport?" Grimsley asked.

"Tennis is what I like." Phillip replied. "I'm also good at Shot Put and badminton."

"Well….I like jogging." Rosaline answered. "I jog every Sunday. I also do Aikido."

"I like all of them actually, but swimming and surfing is my best forte." Jude said promptly.

"Cycling." Ash nodded. "I also like Discus, Javelin Throwing and rock-climbing."

"And what does Pakura like?" Cynthia asked.

"I think it's..." Ash started.

"Gymnastics." Phillip said.

"Bowling." Jude answered.

"Ice skating." Rosaline said.

"Archery." Ash replied. They all looked at one another in puzzlement, wondering why their answers are all different.

'They know her the best among all of us, and they don't even know what her favourite sport is?' Grimsley, Jasmine and Cynthia thought in unison. Just how much did they actually know about their Leader?

* * *

"Now come on, let's get the bus before it…" Lance trailed off and let out an expletive that should never be repeated in front of ladies.

"Watch your mouth, Lance." Clair warned him. "And what is it anyway?"

Lance checked his Pokégear. "We missed the bus." He said tightly.

Clair repeated his expletive, as both of them had left their Pokémon behind as they thought they won't need them when they went shopping together. Well, Clair wanted to go shopping, and made Lance come so he could carry her purchases.

"Now what are we going to do? I was counting on the bus to get me back in time for my match! Now I'll be 15 minutes late and I might be out of the tournament!" Clair cried.

"What's going on?" An aloof voice said.

Both of them turned to see Pakura carrying some groceries, her Pokémon looking at them with curiosity.

"We missed our ride. Now I'm going to be late for my match." Clair explained.

"I can give you a ride back if you'd like." Pakura offered.

"Really?" Clair sounded excited.

Pakura nodded, as she gestured for them to follow her. They walked together to the parking lot, where vehicles of various shapes, sizes and colours sat gleaming in the sun. She took out a car key, and pressed a button and a black sports car beeped, indicating it was unlocked. She nodded for them to get in the car, and helped loaded Clair's items in the trunk.

Lance got into the backseat, while Clair decided to take the passenger seat next to the driver's seat. Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee joined Lance in the backseat. Pakura helped her Pokémon put on the seat belts, before getting into the driver's seat, and started to pull out of the lot.

And just like that, the Johto Dragon users were riding in Pakura's car.

Clair had decided to make some small talk.

"When did you learn how to drive?" Clair asked, as she started drinking the Diet Coke she had bought.

"When I was around 18, before Red defeated me during the Elite challenge." Pakura replied.

"So, what are you doing out in town?" Lance asked.

Pakura looked at him through the rear-view mirror, before answering. "I was picking up ingredients to make more Poképuffs."

"What are they?" Lance asked.

"It's a sweet cake specially made for Pokémon, deepen the bond between Pokémon and Trainer." Clair explained. She had read about them in one old issue of _Trainer's Weekly_, which was why she knew about them. "Do you make Pokéblocks and Poffins too?"

"Yes, but it's for them to enjoy, not to prepare for a Contest or whatever." Pakura stopped at a red light. "Anyway, have you heard? Three of our Elites started dating already."

"Really?" Lance sounded interested at the new-found gossip.

"Yeah. Red was first, going out with Cynthia, Rosaline was next, dating Grimsley, and Jasmine seems to be determined to get Phillip's attention." Pakura replied.

"How about you, will you start dating too?" Clair asked.

Pakura shook her head. "I don't have time for boyfriends, I'm a very busy person. In fact, once we get back I have to get to court immediately for Misty's trial, and then I still have the PAL Contest to prepare for right after the trial. So how about you two? Are you guys seeing someone?"

Clair shook her head, as the light turned green and she continued driving. "Both Lance and I are still single."

"Really?" Pakura glanced at Lance in her rear-view mirror again. Lance nodded.

Clair nodded, as she drank her Diet Coke. "Yup. Girls practically throw themselves at him, but he doesn't have any interest in them."

"That's because those girls only like him for his looks, position and money. They don't see him as a person." Pakura replied knowingly. "Right?"

"Yeah, so that's why I don't take any of those girls as my girlfriend."

"**Don't worry, you'll find someone."** Eevee chirped next to him.

"Gee, I wonder who would be the unlucky person that gets him." Pakura said sarcastically.

"Hey!" Lance glared at Pakura.

"What did Eevee say?" Clair asked.

Pakura translated for them, and Clair stifled a laugh into her can, while Lance blushed.

"But it's a relief, though." Clair said, as she polished off the remains of her soda.

"What's a relief?" Lance asked.

"That a catch like you is still available." Clair replied, and started laughing at the look on Lance's face. To Lance's surprise and relief, Pakura stayed silent.

* * *

"Finally, some time alone, before I go to the court." Phillip sighed in relief, walking into the forest with Emolga.

"**You really don't like crowds, do you?" **Emolga asked.

"Of course not. When I still lived in Hoenn, I was taunted for being different due to my extremely high intellect. They thought I was the biggest freak in Mauville City because I didn't really like playing and instead read books and researched stuff that I was curious about. I was also quite distant with my younger brother since he's the social butterfly and he's very popular with the people, and my parents adored him more than me. That was why when I left for my journey, and at some point got the offer to go to PAL to take the Hunter Exam to test myself, I accepted, and when I passed, I stayed in PAL permanently, and only been back twice."

"**No wonder you were awkward with people. You've grown up rather isolated and you didn't interact much with the children that made fun of you."** Emolga nodded. **"Does the others know about it?"**

"Yeah, they do, and they accepted my decision without question." Phillip replied.

Unbeknownst to him, Jasmine had heard the whole thing, since she followed him.

'Wow….I didn't know Phillip had such a childhood.' Jasmine thought.

"Hey, did you hear that, Emolga?" With his enhanced hearing, he heard a few voices talking.

Emolga nodded, although it's faint.

Both of them crept closer to the source of the noise, and he saw a group of men talking.

"Have you found the weapon?" One man asked.

"No, it's hidden very well." Another said.

"I don't know why Giovanni want that weapon that badly." A third grunted. "Years ago, he was asking to eliminate it since it was disobedient, and escaped with a boy."

"I think it's because it was the only successful weapon he created." A fourth nodded. "And the PAL Elite Four is after them, so he wanted to use it against them."

Phillip listened on in disgust. Judging by the way they talked about the weapon, it's most likely the weapon was a human, but yet they talked about them like they're an object and they don't have feelings.

"**Phillip?" **Emolga looked concerned when she saw Phillip's expression. He only had this expression when he's about to snap.

Phillip looked for something sharp, and found a few sharp rocks that could be used as a knife. He infuse it with electricity, and threw it at the men, making sure to aim at their throats. The rocks hit the targets dead on, and they fell, gurgling out their own blood. Phillip went over to check on them.

"Y-You…" said the only one who was still alive. Phillip sneered in disgust, as he quickly snapped the man's neck, and threw him to the ground, before examining the bodies. He noted that the Five Bosses must've gotten their grunts to infiltrate PAL or something since they had the symbols of the former evil organisation on their clothing. It seemed to him that Giovanni was hell-bent on looking for the weapon which he believed was in PAL.

'This is bad….I better go tell the others!' With that, he rushed to the direction of the court, where he said he'd meet them. He ran past a hidden Jasmine, who had seen the whole thing. She was staring at the scene with wide eyes.

'Wow…I never knew Phillip had a badass side to him, and I know Hunters can kill, but it looks like Phillip could do it without blinking an eye.' Jasmine thought. 'That just makes me want to know you better, Phillip Robinson.'

* * *

"A human weapon?" Jude sounded disgusted, as they took their seats that were next to the jury in the courtroom.

"Yeah, and those people are talking about this weapon like it's an item, you know." Phillip sounded equally repulsed.

"So you're saying it's a human weapon with a letter R mark somewhere at the part of their body?" Rosaline asked.

When Ash heard Rosaline's remark, he shuddered when he imagined men holding a younger Dragon Princess down, and using some branding iron to mark her. He wondered if it would leave a permanent scar, but remembered Pakura saying that the Dragon Princess most likely had the ability to heal rapidly from any physical injury, which was why she was able to survive Team Rocket, so the information regarding the brand is now useless.

"It doesn't have the brand mark." Ash said curtly, as he used telekinesis to absent-mindedly spin a pen.

"How did you know?" Cynthia enquired.

Ash hesitated, as the pen stopped spinning and dropped to the ground. "Because I think the Dragon Princess has the ability to regenerate herself, if she was able to survive Team Rocket's experiment."

There was silence, before Grimsley spoke up. "So you think she's the weapon?" he said quietly.

"Well, I deduced it when I dreamt that a boy stole the weapon from Team Rocket Headquarters."

"How can you trust dreams?" Jasmine was sceptical.

"Ash has the ability to dream of the past, whether his own or others, Jasmine." Phillip replied. "His ability never lies to him."

"Dreams usually contain important information, and/or predict the future," Rosaline piped up. "That is especially true in Ash's case for the first, not so much for the second. His dreams are the only dreams I can't interpret."

"Still, you are the best fortune teller in our region." Ash nodded to Rosaline. "Your prophecies always came true, though you usually make it unconsciously. With practice, I think you can activate it at will."

"Yeah, someday I would be a great clairvoyant, just like the Dragon Duo." Rosaline smiled. "I will show the Dragon Princess who the strongest psychic is." She declared, just as Pakura arrived, and sat down next to Phillip. Pakura inwardly rolled her eyes at Rosaline's statement. Rosaline was overestimating herself if she thought she had a chance.

"Where were you?" Ash asked.

Pakura shrugged, as the Jury entered, and a young man with brown hair and sapphire blue eyes also stepped into the court wearing the black robes typical for a judge. He was in his mid-twenties at best. He was William Anderson, the Chairman of the Hunters Association, and he was an accomplished Three-Star Poacher Hunter, and his job as a Hunter is to study Pokémon and protect them from poachers.

The Jury were the 12 Zodiacs of the Hunters Association. The Zodiacs are a group of twelve Hunters whose skills have been recognized by the Chairman. They occasionally acted as counsellors, and the Chairman would entrust the Hunters Association to them in times of emergency. The Zodiacs have a high standing within the Association. Their codenames are associated with one of the 12 signs in the horoscope. Some of them held an everyday job that is somewhat related to their Hunter occupation.

Ash, getting bored, decided to hear what the jury had to say. His Pokémon were currently chatting with the other Pokémon about what moves were useful in the time where they were at a disadvantage.

"So, are we supposed to examine and trial the case?" Tenma (Codename: Sagittarius) asked the other members. He is a Lost Hunter, and his specializes in seeking those from whom contact has been lost and has engaged in the problem related to lost members of the Hunters Association. He is also PAL's best postman, as whatever duration he was asked to deliver something, he can accomplish it.

"You, Tenma, are seriously born under the sign of morons." Mika (Codename: Aries) remarked. She is an Archaeological Hunter, and her job is to uncover ruins and revive ancient societies. "A jury is to decide whether or not a person is guilty based on statements and evidence given."

"Hey! I'm not stupid, Tomboy!" Tenma retorted.

"Better a Tomboy than an idiot." Mika replied.

"Yeah, but most guys doesn't like a Tomboy!" Tenma countered.

"I doubt idiotic guys are attractive to girls either."

"At least I won't look like a gay couple!"

"I do not look like a man!"

"You behave like one!"

"Tenma, sis, please stop it, even Prince Red is laughing!" Kenta (Codename: Leo), Mika's younger brother, tried to pacify them. He, like Mika, is an Archaeological Hunter. Sure enough, Ash was shaking with laughter, along with Pikachu and Lucario.

"Shut up, Kenta!" Tenma and Mika said in unison.

"…why can't those two stop arguing for once?" Akira (Codename Gemini) sighed to Ryoko, who is sitting next to him. He is a Poison Hunter, and he specialized in various poisons and their pharmaceutical usage. He is the oldest among the Zodiac. He is also one of the best doctors in PAL General Hospital.

"Beats me." Ryoko, (Codename: Aquarius) replied. She is a Trouble Hunter, whose job is to resolve various kinds of problems when called upon. It can range from minor to life threatening. She is also a social worker. "I think this case would be a very interesting one."

"Huh, what did you say?" Jin, (Codename: Libra) looked up from his phone. He's a Youth and Beauty Hunter, whose main goal is to maintain the beauty of people and make them look younger despite their age. He's also a famous fashion designer, being the one to design some of Pakura's and Jude's outfits.

"Jin, pay attention." Akira glared at him.

"Why? We still have five minutes until Chairman Anderson starts the session." He pointed out.

"Prince Red, you're a witness, right?" Ryoko asked Ash, who was sitting nearest to them.

"Oh, yes I am." Ash nodded. "But I won't tell you what happened, as I don't want you to be biased against the defendant in question."

"Fair enough." Naoto, (Codename Taurus) nodded curtly to him. He is a Head Hunter, who specializes in discovering and cultivating new talents. He was a former Champion fighter, and he was only defeated twice in hand-to-hand combat- once by Pakura, and another time by Ash himself.

"Let's get this over with, I want to practice a music piece after this." Ran (Codename: Virgo) said, but she sounded excited for the upcoming session. She is a Music Hunter, and Hunters of her type are usually musically talented and in pursuit of rare musical pieces. She is a dance instructor as well.

"At least it's a hobby and not a compulsory event." Cynthia pointed out. She had decided to join in the conversation. "She has to rush off to the Contest after this, and if this session delays beyond the schedule, she'll be late."

"Fair point." Ran smiled.

"Honestly, I don't see why the defendant had to cause so much trouble." Gou (Codename: Capricorn) shook his head. He, like Rosaline, is a Crime Hunter. He is an officer, and he is something like an Officer Jenny from the other regions.

"I don't really care what she did to me actually." Ash admitted. "It was the fact that she allowed a man in to see Paku in person was unforgivable."

"She what?" Makoto (Codename: Scorpio) interrupted. He is Information Hunter, like Phillip. He is good at photography, and is currently a reporter for _The PAL Times, _but he knows to respect privacy, which is PAL's policy when it comes to gathering information for an article.

Ash repeated himself to Makoto, who shook his head in disgust.

"So, is this a serious case?" Ai (Codename: Pisces) asked, eager for a new experience. She is a Virus Hunter, and her job is to try to find new elements to cure immedicable diseases. She's the youngest among the Zodiacs. She works as a trainee nurse in the PAL General Hospital, under Akira.

"If it has involved both the Prince and the Princess, I think it's a very serious one. After all, they don't attend court sessions unless it's serious." Tappei, (Codename: Cancer) replied. He, like Jude, is a Sea Hunter.

Ash nodded absent-mindedly, as he got bored, and settled to watch William arrange some papers at the table where he was seated.

"Or it could be because they are asked to be witnesses." Ryoko pointed out dryly.

"But Prince Red was the one who called for the arrest." Gou said.

"And what added to her charges is that she put up a fight and had been defiant instead of coming quietly." Naoto added. "It's a miracle Kendra and Alexander didn't hit her. If I were them." He cracked his knuckles. "She's be mush before you can say Hunter."

Ash gave him a wry smile. "Promise me you'll prosecute her fairly and not because we're friends."

"We promise." The 12 of them replied, as the door opened and two guards dragged Misty in handcuffs, and made her sit behind one of the microphones. The two guards then stood on either side of her, in case she attempted to escape. At a distance, the same man that was in the Tower was also placed behind a stand, guarded by another two people.

Ash looked at him closely, and noted that the man had blonde hair and blue eyes. He wasn't bad looking. He thought there'd be some cute girls that would kill to date him any day.

"Defendant has arrived. All rise." said the Bailiff. "PAL's Superior Court is now in session. Judge William presiding. Please be seated." That was when the reporters started filming, and they stayed quiet, and got their notebooks and pens ready.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." William greeted. "Calling the case of the Tower events, which is the People of PAL versus Misty. Are both sides ready?"

"Ready for the People, Your Honor." the District Attorney said.

"Ready for the defence, Your Honor" Misty said. Since her sisters called and said they wouldn't hire a lawyer, she was forced to defend herself in court.

"Will the clerk please swear in the jury?" William requested.

"Will the jury please stand and raise your right hand?" The clerk said, and the jury stood up. "Do each of you swear that you will fairly try the case before this court, and that you will return a true verdict according to the evidence and the instructions of the court, so help you, Arceus? Please say "I do".

"I do." The jury said in unison.

"You may be seated." The clerk nodded, and they sat down.

Derek Evans, the Deputy District Attorney, stood up. "Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: the defendant has been charged with the crime of using her status to get her friends into the Tower to steal the Legendary Pokemon Manaphy that belonged to Prince Red, and bringing an accomplice to who attempted to assault Princess Pakura. The evidence will show that a four girls were see trying to get into Prince Red's room in an attempt to steal a Legendary. The next day the defendant was arrested at the Pokémon Center by orders of Prince Red. The evidence I present will prove to you that the defendant is guilty as charged." He concluded, and sat down again.

Misty stood up. "Your Honor and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: under the law I am presumed innocent until proven guilty. During this trial, you will hear no real evidence against me. You will come to know the truth: that I was just trying to help rescue a Pokémon that Champion Red has poached from the Samiya. Therefore I am not guilty."

"The prosecution may call its first witness." William nodded.

"The People call Prince Red." Derek replied, as the bailiff took Ash to the witness stand.

"Please stand." Ash obeyed, and stood up. "Raise your right hand." Ash did as he was requested. "Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Arceus?"

"I do." Ash replied solemnly.

"Please state your first and last name."

"Red Satoshi." Ash answered.

"You may be seated." The clerk said.

Derek stood up. "Red, what is your occupation?"

"I serve as a three-star Contract Hunter, Champion of PAL, and the Prince of PAL." Ash replied.

"Where do you live?" Derek asked.

"I live in Caelum City, which is where the Elite Mansion is located. It is situated on top of the Mt. Ardua."

"You left home to compete in the Pokémon World Championship, am I right?"

"That is correct. The Tower is located at Luonto City, and we live on the twelfth floor of the Battle Tower, the highest floor." Ash nodded.

"Were you there on the night the break-in happened?"

Ash inclined his head.

"Do you own a Legendary Pokémon called Manpahy?"

"Yes."

"How did you catch it?"

"He chose to come with me."

"Liar!" Misty shouted.

"Would you just shut up?" Tenma yelled at Misty.

"Enough, both of you." William glared at them. "Please continue."

"Could you please recount what happened in the night of the break-in?"

Ash frowned, as if he told the truth, Croagunk would be exposed and Arceus knows what they'd do to Croagunk. He needed Croagunk there to keep an eye on the others.

"I was sleeping when I heard a really loud noise outside my bedroom as if many people collapsed at once. I went to check, as I thought it's unusual for my Elites to be up…well, except Paku, but she isn't a noisy person. I opened the door and saw four girls passed out and a Pokémon hidden in the shadows. Apparently this Pokémon knocked them out. I didn't see what that Pokémon was because it disappeared before I could get a good look. I knocked them out with Sleep Powder from my Butterfree before they could wake up. I immediately teleported the girls back to their rooms, was about to return to sleep when I heard a man screaming, and he didn't sound like Jude or Phillip, so I went to check, and Paku was there with that man, who stepped into a trap." He pointed to the guy that was guarded by two people.

"I see. Do you know who this man is?"

"No." Ash shook his head. "Never seen him before."

"Do you know why Misty allegedly brought him along?"

"Not really, though I have a theory."

"And what would this theory be?"

"I think he was sent to distract us while they sneak in from the staircases. The staircase and elevators are on opposite ends of the Tower, which means if we were all in one side distracted by him, the others can sneak in from the other side."

"So you ordered her arrest after that?"

"Yes."

"Thank you, I have no further questions." Derek said

William frowned, as he wrote something on a piece of paper. "Does the defence have any questions?"

"Yes, why did you poach Manaphy?" Misty glared at Ash. Ash sighed, as he placed a hand on his forehead, and slid it down his face.

"Miss Waterflower, you do not have evidence that it happened, so that question can't be asked. Moving on." William interrupted.

"The witness is excused." Ash left the witness stand.

"There is evidence pertaining to what Prince Red had said." Derek informed William. "Shall we play the evidence?"

"Please." William nodded, and Derek walked over to insert the tape, and the tape played. Sure enough, the video matched what Ash had described. All the girls' faces were unmistakable, and many people turned to stare at May and Iris, who turned red in embarrassment and anger. The PAL reporters looked at each other, and started whispering, and shot a few puzzled looks at Misty.

"Well, that does show that Prince Red is telling the truth. Enough said." Ran said.

"I don't know why Misty had to cause so much trouble by resisting arrest and forcing Prince Red to call a court session." Ryoko muttered. "I mean, look, he was lenient enough not to arrest the other three girls in the tape." She shot a look of disgust at the girls sitting freely among the audience.

"I don't think Prince Red would even catch a Pokémon without permission, so how can he poach?" Kenta asked.

"Beats me. Maybe she's delusional?" Tenma replied.

"If that is so, are you sure she didn't escape from a mental hospital?" Gou asked. "Because the way she resisted arrest and screaming that Prince Red is poaching, you'd think she isn't exactly sane."

"I think Misty's fighting a losing battle here." Akira agreed, as Derek said "The prosecution may call the next witness."

"The People call upon Princess Pakura." Derek said, as Pakura was led to the witness stand. Ash frowned as he saw the same man eyeing her like a kid eyeing his favourite candy.

"Please stand." The clerk requested, and Pakura obeyed. "Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Arceus?"

"I do." Pakura replied.

"You may be seated." The clerk said, and Pakura sat down again.

"Please state your first and last name."

"Pakura Ameyuri." Pakura said.

"Pakura, what is your occupation?" Derek asked.

"I serve as a three-star Blacklist Hunter, Leader of the PAL Elites, and the Princess of PAL." Pakura answered.

"Am I correct to assume you live with Prince Red in the Elite Plateau located at Mt. Ardua at Caelum City?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell us what had happened on the night of the break-in?"

"I was in the sitting room reading a magazine when the elevator arrived in our floor. I wondered who it was since I knew all the other Elites were already in their rooms. It turned out a man I don't even know was in that elevator. When he saw me, he immediately said something about finally finding his bride after a long time, and I wasn't getting away this time. I was really puzzled, since I don't even know this man, and wondered how he got here and why he thought I would be his wife. I asked him how he got in, and he said Leader Misty kindly let him in to see me. He's a pervert, really, as when he was talking all he was looking was at my chest. Anyway, he tried to approach me when I backed away and reached for my waist, but he stepped into a trap that I had made. I waited until he realized he was trapped before knocking him out."

"You said you don't even know the man. Does it mean you don't know his name, or you never seen him before?"

Pakura searched her memory, and shook her head. "Never seen him before."

"I see. I have no further questions." Derek said.

"Does the defence wish to ask any questions?" William asked.

"Yes." Misty said, and she stood up. "How do you know that the man isn't lying to you when you asked how he got in?"

"First of all, the man didn't stutter his answer. When one is lying on the spot, usually they would hesitate, unless they had been practicing for a long time, and he answered immediately without stuttering which meant he is telling the truth, or had been practicing the lie for a long time, which I highly doubt since he is too stupid to lie without anyone finding out, since it took him 10 seconds to register that he fell into a trap." She made sure to be as blunt as possible, hurting the man's feelings, which she didn't care.

"I don't have any more questions." Misty gritted her teeth.

"We have the tape that corresponds to what happened in Princess Pakura's point of view. Shall we play it?" Derek asked.

"Go ahead." William approved, and Derek played the tape. Sure enough, what Pakura described was all in the tape.

"I'm not surprised though." Makoto commented, though he was watching the tape in disgust.

"Yeah, I mean, Princess Pakura is PAL's beauty queen." Mika nodded.

"Poor girl gets a lot of men drooling over her." Ai said.

Jin, however, was staring at space dreamily, only to snap out of it when Naoto hit his head.

"Ouch! What was that for?" Jin asked, rubbing his head.

"Stop daydreaming." Naoto chided.

"Oh come on, this is a little boring, won't you let me dream about something nice to entertain myself?"

"Yes, yes, but you know Princess Pakura is way out of your league." Tappei said sarcastically.

Jin sighed, but he smiled. "Hey, a guy can dream."

Meanwhile, Ash looked at the tape in disgust. Who did the man think he is, having the thought that Pakura was promised to him by his father? He can't even meet the standard Ash mentally made in what he wants for a romantic partner, let alone Pakura's (Ash just knew her standards are way too high for jus anyone to meet, though he thought she didn't use it since he just knew she was engaged.)

"The People call upon the accomplice who had agreed to give his statement." Derek announced, as the man took the witness stand.

"Please stand." The clerk requested. The man did. "Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Arceus?"

"I do." The man said.

"Please state your first and last name." said the clerk.

"Josh Richter." The man replied.

'Wait, his family name sounds familiar.' Pakura thought. She then realized that his father was one of her victims that Benzene forced her to "entertain" for his business deals. Not that she really did, however. She usually told them to write a will to leave all their property and money to her (because she would cost a lot if she really entertained them and it's the last payment they'll ever do anyway), and with her good looks, they never said no. She then used Mind Control (originally Shiki's) and Persuasion (originally Shiki's) to convince them she gave them a pleasurable time, before killing them. The list of victims she had during that time was pretty long.

And about Josh's dad, he, like all others, paid Benzene so she could keep him company. His motive was a little different, however. Pakura sneered in disgust as she realized he was married and thus he wanted her to marry his son after they spend some "quality time" so he and his son could share her, and she then realized why he thought she'd marry him, since his father promised her to him.

"You may be seated." The clerk nodded.

"Josh, what is your Trainer class?" Derek asked.

"I'm an Ace trainer from a rich family. Or at least, we were once rich, until my father died and left everything to someone, probably someone who he had an affair with." Josh said.

'Ace trainer?' Ash thought. 'More like a rookie.'

"How did you get to help Leader Misty?"

"I was just minding my own business when she came up to me with three other girls. She said if I would like to see Princess Pakura up close. I knew her because my father said she was to be my bride, and I knew this was a good chance to get my wife back."

Ash inwardly vomited when he called Pakura his wife. After this session, he'll make sure he never goes near her, not if he had anything to say about it.

"How did your father know her?" Derek asked, frowning.

"I think he was a business associate of Benzene Von Karma, their previous manager. He paid Benzene a lot of money for her to go our house to keep my father company for one night." Josh frowned. "It's too bad the bride ran away, because if we married, we'll be posing pictures for the paparazzi every time we go on dates, and make sure everyone knows she's mine, and she can be happy by staying at home and cook and take care of our many kids, and then…." He went on and on.

'In other words, he's a male chauvinist.' Everyone thought, as they heard his little speech.

"I see." Derek finally interrupted, not being able to listen on.

"He's not right in the head." Cynthia whispered.

"Tell me about it." Grimsley agreed.

The PAL Elites (sans Ash), however, were frowning. Benzene sounded like he had sold Pakura. If he did carry his plans out, why were they left alone in the end?

Ash, on the other hand, felt that his Elites must be hiding something from him, and it was something to do with their previous manager. He made a mental note to ask Pakura, since he knew she'll never lie to him.

"Ok, I get it. The witness may be excused." William said hastily. "Does the prosecution have any other witnesses?"

"Yes, the People call in the expert Hacker Hunter." Derek said, as the expert walked in the court.

"Aren't Hacker Hunters the ones who have vast knowledge of computers and specialize in working with the Internet and dealing with cybercrimes?" Naoto asked.

"Yeah, which means they can tell if a video evidence is fabricated or sabotaged in anyway." Makoto said.

"Please stand." said the clerk, and the expert did. Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Arceus?"

"I do." The Expert answered.

"Please state your first and last name." the clerk said.

"Victor Mitchell." The expert replied.

"You may be seated." The clerk said.

"Victor, where do you work?" Derek asked.

"I am an employed Hacker Hunter in the Hunter's Association. I have been qualified to determine whether a cyber-evidence is compromised for 8 years."

"Have you seen these before?" Derek asked, holding out the two tapes.

Victor looked at them. "Yes. I was asked to check them for any edits in the said video."

"Are the videos edited in any way?" Derek questioned.

"No. I checked it over 5 times, but I couldn't find any changes to it." Victor replied.

"Maybe Phillip Robinson changed it!" Misty interrupted. "He's a technological genius after all!" She was silenced when William slammed his gavel.

"Miss Waterflower, please be quiet or I'll have to charge you for contempt in court. Victor, sorry, please continue."

"It's okay, Your Honour. Anyway, to answer Misty's question, while it's true Phillip had the skills to be a Hacker Hunter, I don't think Phillip can change the video edits since the video evidence was with the Leader and Champion the whole time, and neither of them are technological experts." Victor said.

"Alright. So the evidence is genuine, am I right?" Derek asked.

"Yes." Victor nodded.

"Thank you. I have no further questions and no other witnesses, Your Honour." Derek declared.

"Does the defence have any questions?" William asked.

"Yes. How do you know that the evidence is with the Champion and Leader the whole time?"

"Simple. Phillip has invented something called a sensory touch device. It's the size of a small chip, and I attached it to the thumb drive I gave to Champion Red, and it gives a shock to whoever touches the device, and there would be an ink mark on the hand that cannot be covered up that would last for three days. The device only deactivates at Champion Red's or Leader Pakura's touch. Otherwise, it would shock the person. Once a person puts down the item, it would automatically activate the device. If Phillip didn't have a mark on his hand, it meant he didn't touch the device."

"And how did you know Phillip didn't tell them what to do?" Misty said smugly.

"Easy. The video edits, to make it look like it hadn't been edited, one has to be an expert at the computer, and we all know that both Prince Red and Princess Pakura aren't experts in it. In fact, one of them got a zero for computer class test, so even if Phillip told them they wouldn't understand."

"He got that right." Ash muttered.

'First time I got a zero for something. Oh well. I'm as good as a Magikarp with the move Splash when it comes to IT Applications.' Pakura shrugged.

"Thank you. I have no further questions." Misty glared at Victor.

"The witness is excused." William nodded at Victor, who left the witness stand.

"Your Honor, the People rest their case." Derek declared.

"Is the defence ready with its case?" William asked.

"Yes, I am." Misty said confidently, and the bailiff took Misty to the witness stand.

"Please stand." The clerk instructed, and Misty obeyed. "Raise your right hand. Do you promise that the testimony you shall give in the case now before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Arceus?"

"I do." Misty replied.

"You may be seated." The clerk said, as Misty hastily sat down. "Please state your name."

"Misty Waterflower." Misty stated.

"What is your occupation?" Derek asked.

"I am a Gym Leader, and I own the Cerulean Gym in Kanto." Misty replied.

"Alright. So tell me, why did you use your position to let people in the Tower to take a Manaphy?"

"We were just trying to rescue Manaphy as Manaphy isn't his to begin with. We were just trying to reunite Manaphy with his mother."

"And who is Manaphy's mother?"

"I am!" May said, standing up.

"Ok….so why would you say this girl here is Manaphy's mother?"

"When the Manaphy Egg hatched in May's arms, May was the first person Manaphy saw, so it thought she was its mother." Misty explained.

"I see. Prince Red, could you bring the Pokémon in question out?" Derek requested.

Ash shrugged, and threw the Luxury Ball, and out came Manaphy.

"Manaphy!" May started to run towards Manaphy to grab him, but she was restrained by Rosaline's telekinesis.

"What are you doing? Let go!" May yelled, struggling against Rosaline's restraints. The traitors (except Misty) tried to help, only to be intimidated by a Luxray that Phillip had sent out.

"Please keep calm. This is a court session, not a reunion dinner." Rosaline replied, glaring at May.

"Alright, Manaphy, you heard everything in the court session through your Pokéball, am I correct?" Derek asked.

Manaphy nodded.

"Can you please kindly tell us if what Misty said is true?"

"_It's true that I hatched from an Egg and saw May as my mother at first, but after what she did to Ash, she is no longer my mama! Cynthia is my new mama!" _Manaphy declared.

"No! Manaphy! I am your mama! Champion Red must've had brainwashed you with psychic powers!" May wailed.

"Wait, Ash? You don't mean the boy who disappeared four years ago, do you?" The District Attorney was frowning. The disappearance case even reached PAL's ears, as some of the G-men members who are Hunters were ordered to find him. However, they failed.

"I don't know why he disappeared, don't ask me." Misty said quickly. "The important thing is Red poached Manaphy!"

"Fortunately, we can verify this through a psychic. As Rosaline and Red are your opposition, we have called in someone from a region other than Kanto or PAL. Derek, please go and contact her to come in."

A few minute later, Derek returned with Caitlin.

"How did you get my number?" Caitlin asked. "No, I shouldn't be asking that, should I? You're the one who started the tournament idea and planned it along with a few others, Chairman of Hunter's Association and have friends in high places, so you can get anybody's number you want. So how can I help you?"

"How did she know William was the one who gave the idea?" Kenta whispered.

"She's Psychic. What do you expect?" Mika replied.

"Ah yes, I want you to check Manaphy, and see if Manaphy is brainwashed like May said. And while you are at it check if Manaphy came willingly or was forced to." Derek said.

Caitlin nodded, and went over to Manaphy to scan his mind. She confirmed he wasn't brainwashed, but she nearly gaped when she realized she only could find the answers that Manaphy is willing to give and nothing else. When she tried to find out who Red really is, all she drew was a blank.

Caitlin withdrew and said, "Manaphy isn't brainwashed. I can't detect any foreign psychic power. Manaphy went to Red of his own accord."

"She's lying!" May shouted. There was no way Manaphy would go to Red of his own accord, since Manaphy already had her.

"Lying?" Caitlin was offended.

William slammed his gavel down. "May Maple, if you say one more word, I'm going to charge you with contempt of court. Caitlin, you may go."

Caitlin nodded, and left the courtroom, but not before glaring at May, and thought May was lucky she can control her emotions now, otherwise, her psychic powers would cause a lot of damage in the courtroom due to her former explosive temper.

Pakura checked her CommuniDex for the time, and decided to use Mind Control on Misty to make sure she told the truth, so that they could go for dinner during recess and return for the verdict. The Top 8 had been postponed since she couldn't make it, and she is the Head Judge.

"So is there a reason why you brought a man that you don't know with you?" Derek asked Misty.

"Well, it's because he's supposed to be a distraction and alert us when they are distracted and the coast is clear, so we can sneak in to the room. I was hoping he'd do something to Pakura as well so that she wouldn't do anything to us if we succeeded."

Ash had the sudden urge to go up right there and punch Misty on the face, but that'd be unfitting of PAL's Prince and Champion.

"That's sick." Jude said in disgust.

"Ok...Thank you. I have no further questions." Derek said uncertainly. He sounded like he wanted this to be over and done with.

"The witness is excused. Does the defence rest?" William asked.

"Yes, Your Honour." Misty replied.

William then stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am now going to read to you the law that you must follow in deciding this case. To prove the crime charged against the defendant, the prosecution must prove three things to you: First, that the defendant broke into the Tower, second that the would-be victim did not give the defendant permission to enter his floor and third the Pokémon wasn't in need of rescuing. If each of you believes that the prosecution proved all three of these things beyond a reasonable doubt, then you should find the defendant guilty. But if you believe the prosecution did not prove any one of these things beyond a reasonable doubt, then you must find the defendant not guilty. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean beyond all possible doubt. It means that you must consider all of the evidence and that you are very sure that the charge is true."

"Are you ready with final arguments?" William went on.

"Yes, Your Honour." Derek said.

"Yes, Your Honour." Misty replied.

"Your Honour, and ladies and gentlemen of the jury: The judge has told you that we must prove three things. There is absolutely no question about the first two things we must prove. First, the defendant did break into the Tower. Second, the would-be victim was in the room sleeping when it happened, which meant they weren't given permission, why else would they sneak in when he's sleeping and not when he's alert? Therefore, all we have to prove is that the Pokémon did not need rescuing. The Pokémon in question, Manaphy, seemed very happy under the ownership of Champion Red when we talked to him. There was no signs of distress or abuse on him. According to what the judge just told you, that is all we have to prove. Based on the evidence, you must find the defendant guilty." Derek concluded.

"Your Honour, ladies and gentlemen of the jury: We didn't break into the Tower because at that time, those who opted out of the Tower rooms were allowed access because of status, and they are also allowed to bring friends in. Second, at that time we were allowed to go to whatever floor we wanted, and we simply chose to go to the 12th floor. Thirdly, May was the first person Manaphy saw and so the Manaphy thought she was its mother, and this imprint cannot be changed." She knew since she was the first person her Togetic saw, which meant the baby Pokémon thought she was its mother, and thus became hers. "The prosecution has presented no real evidence to you to show that this is not true. That means that there is a reasonable doubt and, therefore, you must find me not guilty."

"Alright, I'll call a recess. We'll be back here in an hour to announce the verdict." William said. He stopped when Josh began hyperventilating, and collapsed to the ground, struggling to get air. Akira and Ai rushed over to help him, and held him while trying to get him to breathe properly, and when they failed, Ash rushed over to try and help.

He focused his aura on the man's chest, and forced the heart to keep pumping at a regular rate, but he was too late as Josh stopped struggling a minute later, indicating death.

Ash, Akira and Ai checked his body to see the cause of death, but found nothing.

Nobody saw a needle flying back to Pakura's hand, and being crushed into smithereens, before the owner placed all the pieces back in her skirt pocket.

Ash watched as Akira and Ai took the body away using a stretcher, and wondered if the Dragon Princess was among the audience. What grudge did the Dragon Princess have against Josh? Or was it because she was a mindless killer killing whoever she wanted?

"We're extending the recess to two hours." William was slightly shaken by the turn of events, and his gavel came slamming down.

**BP: And that's all for chapter 10.**

**I apologize if Ash didn't have as much spotlight in the court scene, as there was no way I could insert Ash's thoughts all the time, and I'm sorry if the ****Pokémon had no lines at all, as there was no way I could fit it in. I'm very sorry if the court scene was way too long, because I used a Mock Trial script I found online and translated it to a story and rewrote it to fit the storyline. I really don't know how a court session works, so please forgive me.**

**There are a few things I want to announce as well. **

**The members of the jury were based on the characters of an old show called the GranSazers. The 12 members themselves have star signs corresponding to them, so I thought I'd use them for the Zodiacs (although Hunter x Hunter used the Chinese Zodiac). The types of Hunter is related to their daily jobs in the series. It was really hard to make 12 OC for the jury, and mysterypink98 had the wonderful idea to base the characters on the GranSazers as there were 12 of them. Whether they would return for later chapters remains to be seen. **

**The judge and the Deputy District Attorney were actually based on OC I made for my first story as well. The Hacker Hunter is also another OC, though I won't be using him anymore after this chapter. **

**Also, yes, Pakura is not entirely sane. She wasn't born like that, it's the events of her life that turned her into what she is. It would be explained later, and yes, she isn't good at technology, she also has a huge fear of something which I would reveal later. Her "theory" of the Dragon Princess having a Healing Regenerative Factor is correct, and this is actually her very first ability. She usually tells facts to sound like theories to help and harm the investigation, as theories can't really be trusted. Also, her killing streaks are mainly people she doesn't like for various reasons (she's the 'you leave her alone she'll leave you alone' type of person) **

**Unfortunately, I couldn't display Ash's other abilities in this chapter, as the court scene was very long (I'm sorry for my terrible writing) so he'll have to use it when he's training by himself (He's not going to find out Pakura is training Cynthia, as it's going to be a girl-to-girl secret.) **

**I emphasize that Pakura used to love her own Elites, but the love turned to hate somehow, and she erased their memories mainly of the good times they had together and how she used to love them, and only she or Shiki can remove it (this is actually Shiki's ability and not hers). **

**I also have good and bad news. The bad news: I know many of you want her with Ash, which is why you suggest an Ash x Cynthia x Pakura for this story since he can't be with Pakura without breaking up with Cynthia. I understand your reasons and as much as I'd like to do this pairing, mysterypink98 vehemently refused, and since she has the bigger say, I won't do that pairing. But after consideration, I decided for my readers, I'm wiling to write an Ash x Pakura story, which brings me to my good news. I talked to mysterypink98, and she had agreed to this idea. **

**The good news: While we can't do this pairing, I am more than willing to do an alternate version of this story where Pakura ends up with Ash (in other words, Ash x Pakura), and there would be a few major differences in the plot itself, though some details would remain the same. I already decided that if I were to write it, it'd be a darker version of the story. You'll only know why it's darker if you want me to write it. If you want me to write an alternate version of this story (which I would be delighted to write) just say the word. I would start writing it depending on how many readers want me to write this alternate version.**

**Suggestions are welcome on the following: **

**1\. Pairings in the story (For Jude and Pakura. Pakura is optional)**

**2\. Any traitors you want Paul, Gary, Tracey, the Elites, or their love interests to battle in particular (unfortunately, it has to be outside of the tournament, since as you can see they usually foolishly challenge them to battle)**

**3\. What should Pakura train Cynthia in? **

**4\. What kind of Key Stone should Grimsley, Jasmine and Cynthia get (necklace, bracelet) **

**5\. The story is split into two Arcs: The Mystery Arc and the Five Bosses Arc. Do you want the Top 8 to happen during the Mysteries Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved right after Top 8) or the Five Bosses Arc (which means the mysteries would be solved between Top 16 and Top 8) **

**6\. What Pokémon should Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine catch? (Can be any Pokémon except those listed in previous chapter.)**

**7\. When should the traitors find out who Red really is, and how?**

**8\. I've watched episodes where Ash and his friends met Elite Four members and hung out with them so I decided that people should meet Ash and the others for a change, since this time, Ash is the celebrity instead of a fan. Who should Ash meet? It can be his old rivals from the regions he traveled in, or even characters of the day from Pokemon episode (but if it's the latter, I'd appreciate it if you mention which episode this character came from) **

**9\. Do you want me to write the Ash x Pakura version of this story? If yes, what differences do you want in the alternate version from this story you read so far (it can even be the personalities of the Elites)? If no, why not? **

**10\. Whose turn should it be to film the next week's PokéVision and what should it be about? I'll be counting the votes for this one. It can be Rosaline again if you wish to.**

**11\. What verdict should Misty be given in the next chapter?**

**12\. Any suggestions on how I can write the next chapter? (running out of ideas)**

**Do favourite, follow and review this story (Though I know I did a terrible job this time, since I didn't really have time to look over as I was trying my best to update ASAP)**


	11. Verdict, Training, Mega Evolution

**BP: Thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows! Unfortunately, as I said, school has started, and assignments are piling in, so most of my time has been taken up (even my time on weekends), therefore I might not be able to update as often! As for the AV (Alternate Version) of this fic, there would be a lot of differences (and the AV is a much darker fic than this one, you would know why when I post it), so look forward to it, as there would be a lot of differences (although some content would be exactly the same in this one)**

"What was that about?" Tenma asked, as the Zodiacs were in the dining room that was off the courtroom getting their dinner while they discuss the verdict. Food was arranged on carts around the room and they were supposed to serve themselves. The PAL Elites (except Pakura) and their love interests were dragging all the small tables to form one big table so that they could all (Zodiacs, PAL Elites except Pakura, since she went to Arceus-knows-where and their love interests) eat together. He took up a tray and started to make his way around the food-laden carts that ringed the room. He avoided the Pokémon that were currently eating on the floor.

"Beats me. Maybe we can ask Akira or Ai later." Makoto replied, he picked out a slice of pizza for his plate, and scooped out some chicken shepherd's pie for himself. As he went to collect the utensils he needed for his food, he heard a bowl drop and someone saying "Opps."

Tenma and Makoto looked up to see Jin looking at his phone with one hand while precariously holding his half-laden tray in the other. Ash's Gardevoir was using Psychic to place an empty bowl which he dropped back on the tray, while Jin nodded his thanks.

"Jin, could you please put your phone aside?" Ran asked from behind him, as she got herself a potato bar, and is now ladling stew into a bowl.

"Come on, I'm just looking at some inspiration for my next design. Couldn't hurt, can it?" Jin replied, placing his phone on the tray, and getting the utensils.

"What could you be looking at?" Tenma snatched the phone from Jin's tray, much to Jin's chagrin ("Hey, that's my phone!") and looking at the screen.

"You're looking at Rosaline's winning artworks?" It was well-known to everyone that Rosaline had won PAL's Art Competition (occurs three times a year) 15 times in a row.

"Well, everyone knows she's the best artist in PAL. She and Tyler Clearwater should get together and have tea sometime." Jin shrugged, as he joined Tenma and Makoto at the utensils section.

"Isn't he the one featured in this month's _Art All over the World _as the Artist of the Month?" Ran wondered, as she picked out drinks for her friends.

"Yeah, he is." Makoto nodded. Tenma was absent-mindedly searching through Jin's phone for some latest updates.

"Oh My God, look at these!" Tenma showed the phone to the others. "It looks like Champion Red is against Champion Alder tomorrow at the Top 32!"

"Really?" Ran snatched the phone from Tenma, which earned her a "Hey! Be careful!" from Jin. "And look, Princess Pakura is up against Clair from Blackthorn. It'll be really interesting to see a member of the most well-known Dragon Clan fighting against the Dragon Slayer."

"We are so going to that." Jin nodded.

"You know you need tickets to get in, right? Not including the participants, since they can get in for free because they are participating. It's closed to everyone except invited guests and press, specifically, PAL press."

"Oh, that won't be a problem. You can get us in, Makoto. Don't the reporters of PAL give you tickets so that you could report the event?"

Makoto shot Jin a sarcastic look, which made Jin say, "Oh yeah, you nearly got into trouble because you didn't notice a reporter from other regional paper or magazine was following you and once he got in, he took pictures like nobody's business."

"Let's just drop it." Makoto sighed.

"Aren't Prince Red and Princess Pakura the ones who give out the tickets?" Ran asked.

Jin looked over to Ash, who was sitting together with Cynthia and currently talking to Phillip.

"Ooh." Tenma said. "Good suggestion. They might have extra tickets that they didn't give out. Let me go and check."

Makoto wished he could stab both of them with his spork.

"I'll go sit down now." Makoto muttered, not wanting to hear anymore. He kept his gaze fixed on Ai and Tappei, who were his two close friends, determined not to glance in Tenma's direction, as he made his way across the dining room to the empty seat near them, which they clearly saved for him. Ai and Tappei, who were chatting with Naoto, Ryoko and Mika, looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back.

However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Tenma talking to Ash, and Ash absent-mindedly handing over his wallet, which Tenma started digging through. He saw Ash taking a piece of paper from Tenma's hands, before taking back his wallet and returning to chat with his friends.

Makoto sighed, as that could only mean that Ash did have extra tickets to the tournament.

* * *

"Already?" Pakura said in mock surprise. She was taking a break in her cave with all her Pokémon, when Lance decided to drop in.

She suppressed the urge to rub her temples, as she felt a headache coming on due to lack of rest lately. While looking and feeling healthy isn't a problem to her (due to the fact that her first ability is Regenerative Healing Factor, which meant that she can heal rapidly from any physical injury, from minor to fatal, and also she would always be in very good physical shape as her body is constantly reverting to healthy state), it doesn't mean she can't feel tired.

"Yeah, already." Lance replied, clutching to his Egg. "Phillip started to use Mega Evolution during the Top 64. He Mega Evolved his Mawile during his match against my friend Bruno, and crushed him really bad. Bruno was still in a little shock about his loss."

"And here I was, thinking they won't use it until the Top 32. Looks like I was wrong." Pakura muttered. "Alright, I guess it can't hurt to tell you more about Mega Evolution."

Lance put down his Egg, and paid attention to Pakura.

"Look, in order to Mega Evolve, the Pokémon must be holding the appropriate Mega Stone and its Trainer must have a Key Stone. But I know for one that Rayquaza can Mega Evolve juts by learning the move Dragon Ascent."

"Wait…Rayquaza can Mega Evolve?" Lance asked.

"Yeah, the PAL Elites know that actually. I actually own a Rayquaza myself, so I should know."

"What?" Lance gaped at her, as he couldn't believe his ears. Did the Dragon Princess just say she owned a Legendary Dragon Pokémon?

"Alright, it was originally the Prince's." Pakura conceded.

"How many Legendaries do you actually have?" Lance asked.

"I don't know why you are so surprised, each PAL Elite owns at least 3 Legendaries. The Prince and I had 7 between us, 5 were originally his and 2 were mine. And…." Pakura paused, before briefly glaring at Lance for making her go off-topic, and Lance wisely shut up. "I think even with the Mega Stone and the respective item to resonate with the stone, Mega Evolution cannot be achieved if there is not a strong bond between the Trainer and Pokémon."

"I don't know. Max's Gallade did Mega Evolve successfully, and Ash said they didn't have a strong bond?"

"Something happened to Mega Gallade, didn't it?" Pakura pointed out.

"Yeah, you were right. Max's Gallade went on a rampage after the Mega Evolution. Pakura said it was because Gallade couldn't handle the sheer increase of power, and this power actually manipulated him, and Pakura said something about the bond is so that the Pokémon could hear the owner's voice and help the Pokémon stay calm. How did you know, anyway?"

'Because I was there.' Pakura thought, inwardly rolling her eyes, but instead she decided to talk more about Mega Evolution, "The thing is, once per battle, only a single Pokémon in the Trainer's Team may Mega Evolve, which means a Trainer has to choose carefully on who to Mega Evolve during the battle."

"It can only be used once?" Lance was surprised.

"Yes and no. Oh, and also, the Pokémon would remain in the Mega Evolved state even if you switch it out. A Mega Evolved Pokémon can only revert back to its original state upon fainting or the conclusion of the battle. Mega Evolutions are only temporary."

"Ok….and what do you mean by yes and no?" Lance frowned.

"The PAL Elites can Mega Evolve more than one Pokémon during battle. Maybe their deep bonds helped bypass the rule. While it's true we used Mega Evolution for quite a while already, we still do not know the mechanisms behind it, the only one who know the secrets behind it would be Champion Ash. Another thing is, when Pokémon Mega Evolve their Abilities change and sometimes, their Pokémon type. There is also an increase in their stats."

"Any examples?" Lance asked.

"Loads." Pakura replied. "Charizard, for instance. When it Mega Evolves with this-" Here, Pakura held up a light blue stone that was dark blue and black in the middle. "It actually becomes a Fire/Dragon, and it would be able to learn more Dragon-type moves. Its Ability would change to Tough Claws."

"Cool…" Lance looked at the stone, but then Pakura held up another one. This time, it was light orange one with yellow and red in the middle. "This, while it doesn't change Charizard's actual type, it changes Charizard's Ability to Drought. Why don't we see the power of Mega Evolution?" With that, Pakura summoned a Pokéball with her telekinesis. "Follow me."

Unbeknownst to Lance, she levitated herself off the ground slightly so that her feet wouldn't keep kicking Eevee when she walked as she was hidden in her gown.

* * *

"So, what's the result?" Ash asked Akira, who joined their table with their dinner on the tray.

"The killer used Aconite to kill the victim." Akira replied, watching Ash's Pikachu and Buneary eating together, and laughing together at some sort of joke no one but Ash and the PAL Elites could understand.

"What's that?" Cynthia frowned.

"It comes from the plant monkshood. Also known as wolfsbane, aconite leaves only one post-mortem sign, that of asphyxia, as it causes arrhythmic heart function which leads to suffocation. Poisoning can occur even after touching the leaves of the plant without wearing gloves as it is very rapidly and easily absorbed. Because of its untraceable nature it has been a popular one with the "get away with murder" crowd." Ash explained.

"How did you know all these?" Cynthia asked.

"Learnt it during the training I went through during my four years." Ash replied. "The killer must've found a way to get this guy to absorb the poison, and it's most likely the person dipped something small, a needle probably, into the poison, before throwing it at Richter. Where the needle is, I wouldn't know."

However, Ash inwardly thought that the Dragon Princess must've taken the needle back via teleportation or telekinesis the moment the needle sunk in any of the body part and also, he was told about this poison a few years back when Pakura was teaching him about various poisons, but he daren't talk freely with the jury here, since they do not know anything about the mysteries, and he certainly isn't going to mention anything to them now.

"Anyway, what did Tenma want?" Rosaline asked Ash, as she noticed Tenma asking Ash something which lead to Ash handing over his wallet earlier.

"Just wanted some tickets so they can watch the tournament live." Ash shrugged. "Apparently, I'm up against Alder and Paku's up against Clair and they didn't want to miss it for the world. In exchange, he gave me a coupon to the confectionery store. It entitles me to up to 30 free items when this coupon is used. He must've gotten this as his reward for being one of the best postmen in PAL."

"And who are we up against?" Rosaline asked.

"According to Tenma, you're up against Koga, and Cynthia's up against Lorelei, Grimsley's fighting Phoebe, Jasmine is up against Lance…" Here, everyone winced. Everybody knows that not counting the Dragon Duo, Lance is the strongest Dragon Master, and Jasmine's chances of winning are rather slim, even with her type advantage, for he is a Champion and she's a Gym Leader. "And it looks like Phillip is up against Glacia and Jude will be fighting Lucian. Paul and Gary apparently won against the Psychic twins, and so they are moving on to the top 32, and they are going to battle Roxie and Fantina respectively."

At the last sentence, Ash smiled for his friends who had won against the twins, as he had heard they are fairly powerful even when they are separated, though he thought they still needed more work to match Sabrina, Will or Caitlin's level. His intuition told him that the power of their combination is beaten by the Dragon Duo by a mile.

"You mean Lucian won against that Virgil guy?" Jude asked, remembering Virgil as the guy who owned all the Eeveelutions (except Sylveon). Also, he knew that Virgil was up against Lucian this afternoon.

"Apparently so." Phillip nodded. "Not very surprising, isn't it? Lucian's the strongest Sinnoh Elite member after all."

"Even if I can't win, I will do my best, and give Lance a good fight." Jasmine declared, determined.

"That's the spirit, Jasmine." Cynthia clapped her on her back. "Show him what you are capable of."

"I guess I can wish you all good luck for tomorrow." Akira gave them his rare smile.

Meanwhile, at the other side, the others were discussing the verdict. Akira, who was currently talking to the Elites, had told them beforehand that he votes guilty.

"She's definitely guilty. Her final argument may have added a little doubt, but I'm sure she is guilty. Red himself had evidence to back up his claim." Tappei said.

"Tappei's right." Ai agreed. "Besides, Misty didn't bring in any evidence at all, it was all just words."

"All I heard from her was just nonsense." Ryoko curled her lips in a slight sneer.

"Yeah, nothing logical came out of her mouth." Gou shrugged.

"But to pronounce her guilty, we all have to have a unanimous vote. And I believe everyone is important in this decision." Jin said, a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"She's guilty. Enough said." Naoto nodded.

"I vote guilty." Mika said.

"I stand by Sister's decision." Kenta added.

"She's guilty!" Ran declared, raising her spoon, which caused Mika to give her a look that clearly told her to put that spoon down, as the spoon narrowly missed Ai's face. Ran lowered the spoon, and shot Ai an apologetic look, and Ai nodded in forgiveness.

"Shouldn't have trusted them to go in due to their status without malicious intent in the first place." Makoto rolled his eyes.

"Calm down, Makoto." Tappei said. "It was unexpected."

"But if we vote guilty, we still need to return tomorrow to mete out the sentence so we still have to decide on her punishment tonight." Ai nodded. "Would she be ok in our jail though?" Everyone knew that while PAL is the most luxurious region to live in, according to Gou, the prison has got to be one of the worst he has ever seen.

"She should've thought of the consequences before she committed the crime." Naoto muttered, leaning back on his chair, and fell silent after that.

"I'll have to agree with Naoto for this one." Gou said.

"Everyone vote guilty?" Tenma pointed his chopstick at everyone, who nodded. As foreperson of the jury, he is responsible for speaking for the rest of the jurors. "Great." He sat down, and started on his plate of Buffalo Bites, and gulped down some soda.

"Well, now that's out of the way." Ran said, as she happily continued eating her dinner. The others looked at each other before following suit, and some went over to talk to the PAL Elites about their upcoming match and what they had been doing lately.

"You've got 29 new Pokémon?" Kenta sounded awestruck.

"Yeah, it's all traded from various trainers from around the World. Paku helped me do the trading. I was just lucky all of them were different types of Pokémon." Ash replied, drinking his grape juice. "Most of them had issues with previous Trainers, which is why they are given to me, despite some being a powerful Pokémon in general." Ash sighed when he finished the last sentence.

"So how is your relationship with them?" Phillip asked.

"It's going fine so far. The thing is, the previous Trainers lacked the characteristics needed to raise the more powerful Pokémon, such as Dragonite or Goodra. The more powerful a Pokémon, the harder it is to take care of them, and when the Pokémon feels the Trainer can't take care of their needs, that's when they get disobedient. That is a common thing among disobedience from Pokémon, but my Charizard was an exception. As for him, it's because spending time with that abusive Trainer, Damien..." He said the name out with venom. "...and his characteristics rubbed off on him as a Charmander, but it wasn't obvious until he evolved."

"How did you get him to obey you again?" Makoto questioned. They had seen that Charizard was still with him, which indicated he never released it.

"I never gave up on him." Ash answered. "I'll never give up on any of my Pokémon."

"And that's one of the reasons why I love you." Cynthia muttered, loud enough for all the PAL Elites (except Pakura) to hear, due to their enhanced hearing.

The three of them (Rosaline, Jude and Phillip) exchanged knowing looks and smiles.

* * *

Ash sighed, as he decided to take a nice long walk after dinner with Pikachu and Lucario. This time, Buneary was with them, sitting on Ash's other shoulder.

"**You've been sighing for the umpteenth time, Ash." **Buneary commented.

"**Yeah, is something wrong, Master?" **Lucario asked. That earned him a short look from Ash as he had called Ash 'Master' which Ash told him so many times not to do.

"I don't know. The Dragon Duo vanished around 5 years ago, so Jude and Phillip should know something about them. I think the Dragon Princess used to be friends with them somehow, as they probably knew her since she was the Princess at that time. She probably erased their memories so that they can't speak of her before she vanished. If that is so, only Phillip and Jude would have their memories wiped. But question is, why did she erase Rosaline's too?"

"**Maybe she found out something about the Dragon Princess?" **Lucario shrugged.

"No. Knowing the Dragon Princess, she would usually kill to silence others, and since Rosaline is psychic, the Dragon Princess would never take the chance of just erasing the memories. No, she told Rosaline something about her willingly, and I am ready to bet that the memories the Dragon Princess erased were all memories of herself."

"**Do you think the previous manager has something to do with it?" **Pikachu spoke up.

Ash stopped. Now he thought of it, none of his Elites had bothered to mention what their previous manager was like, and he didn't know much either, as he vanished shortly after Ash became Champion for unknown reasons. Pakura came back with a long letter from him, apparently confessing to all his crimes, but he never got to read it, as Pakura sent the letter to the Hunter's Association to tell them everything, and then they burned up the letter after reading it, so he actually never knew what the previous manager did.

However, during the hearing, Ash thought he was a tyrannical manager, thinking he has power over the PAL Elites, and he probably used Pakura and sold her into prostitution to his business associates, most likely as part of his business deals. The reason why was probably because she had many men, taken or not, who admired her for her extreme beauty, and Benzene possibly took advantage of this fact to earn profit, and boost her popularity among boys. The thought alone made Ash's face contort in disgust.

He wondered if Benzene himself got to the Dragon Princess as well. He had a picture of the Dragon Princess in a normal outfit in a newspaper (dated 8 years back, and acquired by Rosaline) before, and her normal outfit consisted of a dress that was white from neck to chest and light pink down the rest. The outfit had white long sleeves (with lace cuffs at the end) and had a bow tie on the chest part of the outfit. Her shoes were pink with bows on it. In other words, it was a typical Sweet Lolita outfit. Her black hair was in a short ponytail, and she wore a pink headband with a bow.

In other words, she was a cutie (even though her face can't be seen due to the fringe covering her eyes and shadowing her face), and Ash knew some older guys (no less than forty) would go for sweet-looking girls like her, and he knew that the Prince and Princess usually lived in the Plateau with the Elite Four (even though they are not members).

"I think Benzene, the previous manager did business by selling desirable residents of the Plateau without permission, such as Paku. If that is so, all four of them should be affected, and most likely have trauma that I would have picked up, but I detect none, not even from Paku. The question is, why did he leave the other three alone, and why wasn't she traumatized?"

"**Pakura's the Leader, isn't she? Maybe she said something to him?" **Buneary suggested.

Ash paused. The only thing Benzene could threaten them with is their loved ones. And Paku had none, so he couldn't threaten her, yet she was the one being sold instead of the others, who had families.

"We better do more research on this person tomorrow. Something tells me he did more corrupt things, besides selling Paku, which may explain why the others never bother to mention them to me." Ash said grimly.

"**And knowing this type of people, they would use threats, and the only threat they can use is threatening to kill the families if they do not cooperate. And among the four, three of them have families, and yet the one who doesn't have the family is sold." **Lucario nodded.

"Which means…" Ash widened his eyes, as he realized that maybe Paku may have loved the other three at one point so much she decided to sacrifice herself to save the other three and their families, most likely by making a deal with Benzene: she'll entertain the clients herself, provided if he leaves the other three and their families alone. Perhaps she cheated in the deal, as he couldn't detect any trauma within her.

'Was Benzene the one who tore Paku away from them?' Ash thought.

* * *

"This would be a quick one-on-one battle, alright? I'm pretty busy and I don't have much time left." Pakura announced.

"Sure." Lance shrugged. "Salamence, battle time!" He threw a Pokéball, and out came Salamence in his full glory.

'Hmm….Ash's Salamence has a more powerful aura about it, but Lance is a powerful Champion, so I better not underestimate him. Shi-chan talked quite highly about him after all.' Pakura thought. "Alright, Charizard, take the battlefield!" She used the same battle cry as Shiki's so Lance would not suspect her real identity. Charizard appeared, and he was wearing a Mega Stone on the neck.

"And now….Mega Evolve, Charizard!" Pakura revealed her Key Stone, which was a Mega Charm in the shape of a dragon's head, and Lance watched as the same yellow and blue tendrils of lights he saw in Phillip's and Max's Mega Evolution appear once more, and as usual they turned white when touched, spreading, and finally, Charizard glowed in a vibrant of colours, and when the glow died, Charizard looked completely different. If Lance didn't see Charizard Mega Evolve, he'd have thought it was a completely different Pokémon.

"You may have the first move." Pakura offered.

"Don't mind if I do. Salamence, start things off with Dragon Claw!" Salamence's claws glow white and it flew towards Mega Charizard, about to slash Mega Charizard.

"Dodge it." Pakura said calmly, and Mega Charizard got out of the way in time, and reappeared behind Salamence.

"Salamence, behind you!" Salamence started to turn and tried to attack with Dragon Claw again, but Pakura simply told Mega Charizard to dodge again. This continued on with Salamence unable to hit Mega Charizard.

"Is that all you've got?" Pakura asked.

"Salamence, change of plans. Use Dragon Breath!" Salamence stopped chasing Mega Charizard around, and prepared a powerful Dragon Breath.

"The best defence is a good offence. Flamethrower." The Flamethrower and Dragon Breath clashed in the middle, looking like a stalemate for a moment, before the attacks exploded, and covering both Pokémon in a cloud of thick smoke. That gave Pakura and Mega Charizard an advantage, because Mega Charizard can see through smoke, and Pakura can pinpoint both Pokémon's positon in the smoke.

"Now, use Dragon Rush." Mega Charizard released a dragon-shaped energy that covers its body, and then slammed into Salamence in full force, knocking it out of the smoke cloud, which had almost cleared by now.

"Salamence, Fire Blast!"

"Steel Wing to absorb the impact." Mega Charizard flew into the Fire Blast, and the Steel Wing was now burning and glowing orange from the Fire Blast, and Mega Charizard charged towards Salamence with the flaming wings.

"Salamence, counter with Giga Impact!" Salemence's body was then surrounded by an orange sphere of energy. Then, the orange colour faded and turned purple, with orange streaks of energy that spiral around the orb. The Steel Wing clashed with the Giga Impact, with both Pokémon flying backwards, and hitting trees that were opposite to each other.

"Dragon Pulse, Charizard." Charizard opened its eyes, and fired a Dragon Pulse at Salamence, and before Lance could react, the Dragon Pulse already hit Salamence dead on. Lance knew Salamence was now tired out.

"What do you think?" Pakura asked, knowing the battle is over. Mega Charizard also reverted back to its original form.

'So this is the power of Mega Evolution.' Lance thought, as Pakura walked (read floated) over to Salamence, and placed her hands on Salamence's body. He watched as her hands glowed blue and the injuries that Salamence sported during the battle disappeared, and soon enough he was healed up.

"You can heal Pokémon?" Lance was surprised.

"Pokémon and humans. I can heal anything as long as the target is alive. I can also remove sickness and poison from the target's body, not just injuries. I don't want people to abuse my ability, which is why I never said anything about this ability. So keep quiet about this." Pakura warned him, as he returned his now fully-healed Salamence, while she returned her Charizard. 'Frankly, I prefer killing instead of healing.'

"I won't." Lance promised, as they made their way back to the cave. Pakura, as usual, floated.

'If only I had learnt to remove poison five years ago, I could've saved him. But I only mastered this last year….' Pakura thought bitterly. She unconsciously clenched her fists, and that did not go unnoticed.

"Is something wrong, Princess?" Lance asked, concerned.

Pakura realized she had clenched her hands into fists and unclenched them. "No, nothing." She replied in an airy tone. "Don't worry about it. So now you saw the power of Mega Evolution, right?" She decided to change the subject.

"Yeah." Lance nodded. "I think Mega Evolution would be something every Trainer would want."

"True, but not many people can master it. But I'm sure considering the bonds with you and your Pokémon, I think you can master Mega Evolution with some practice."

"Me?" Lance was surprised, as Pakura went somewhere in the cave, and returned with a rectangular black box.

"I think you might like these. You should've seen how much they usually give us, and we have so much extra." Pakura sighed, as she remembered how they'd give them a set of Mega Stones along with a Key Stone for free as gifts, which led to many extras. Perhaps she'd give Cynthia one later, along with a Garchompite or maybe she could get Ash to give Cynthia those items later.

"Thanks, Princess." Lance nodded, taking the box in one arm and the Egg in another. He wondered what was inside the box.

"So who are you up against in the Top 32?" Pakura asked.

"Jasmine, one of Johto's Gym Leader."

"As in the Steel-type master? She does have the advantage."

"I'm not worried about me actually. More worried for Clair, she's going against Pakura."

Is she? That's news. Now, it wasn't a question of whether Clair can win, it was more like how long she can last against her.

"I'm sure she'd do fine. She's the most powerful Gym Leader in your region after all." Pakura replied in a reassuring voice. 'Actually, since she's a member of the Dragon Clan in Blackthorn, I'm so not going to give her any openings.'

"I just hope Pakura doesn't send Clair's Pokémon to the Emergency Ward, I won't put it below her to do that."

'Who do you think I am, I keep the promises I made, ok?' Pakura thought. "Well, we'll leave things here for today. I think you might want to practice with your Pokémon one last time before you battle Jasmine, after all, she is a fairly powerful Gym Leader."

"You're right, Princess."

"Good luck for your match tomorrow."

"Thanks." With that, Lance left.

"**Why did you give him the Mega Stones for his Pokémon?" **Skitty asked, as her Pokémon emerged from different parts of the cave. Suspiciously, Sylveon and Espeon emerged together, and Espeon's eyes were glowing with the tell-tale move of Psychic.

Pakura shrugged. "Why not? I want a good fight from him when I challenge him with my Dragon Pokémon. It'd be a disappointment if he lost early, right? I do so like to crush an opponent when he's at the top of his game. And it seems like he already trusts me." She gave a smirk. "So much the better." She trailed off when she saw a brown egg with a cream-colored zigzag stripe around its middle.

"Congrats, Sylveon, Espeon." Pakura nodded, as both proud parents smiled at each other. "But you know I have enough Eeveelutions."

"**Should we give this Egg to someone?"** Espeon wondered.

"Yes, but I was thinking to give to someone who we can monitor your baby. And somebody who can evolve the Eevee into his or her speciality type." Pakura said. "That way, we can watch your child, and if the person doesn't treat your child well, you'll have a lot of chances to say, beat them up."

"**How about Grimsley?"** Sylveon suggested. **"He always wanted an Umbreon." **

"Good idea. I'll get Tenma to send the Egg later. It'll be anonymous." Pakura nodded.

"**By the way, don't you hate those men who only sees you as an object to pleasure them, or some trophy wife?"** Sylveon asked the question that was on everyone's minds but had no opportunity to ask until now, flicking her tail in anger. The other three knew she was referring to the hearing and what Josh said.

"Which is why they meet death at my hands, in addition to their money, precious goods and properties being taken." Pakura said simply, referring to the sheer number of kills she made (and the amount of valuables she had taken) just by Benzene "selling" her to clients. Every single one of them end up dead by her hands, and possessions taken.

* * *

Ash yawned, as he walked into the deep part of the forest. At least he had learnt that his Elites used to be a close-knit group, until Benzene cruelly tore them apart, and he was the one to wreck the friendship between the four of them.

He wondered what had happened right after he won. He remembered that Pakura was called into Benzene's office shortly after he won. He didn't hear much, only muffled yelling coming from Benzene, a smashing sound, and Benzene storming out. Pakura emerged a few minutes later looking positively murderous, holding something in her hands (but Ash can't see what due to the lack of lighting, and he doesn't have night vision like Jude) before going back to her room silently. When Ash went to check the office later, there was nothing broken, and he wondered whether the smashing noise was all his imagination.

"**Hey, Pakura! How are you?" **Pikachu greeted, snapping Ash out of his thoughts. Sure enough, Pakura was there with her usual three Pokémon.

"Hey, Paku." Ash greeted her.

Pakura nodded at him.

"So what are you doing in the forest?" Ash asked.

"Same as you, taking a walk. The deep parts of the forests are quiet and nice, isn't it?" Pakura replied.

"Sure is. It's pretty nice and cool too." Ash said. Just as he finished his sentence, both of them heard a crack of whip in the air, and a pained Pokémon's cry.

Ash and Pakura looked at each other, and nodded, before rushing off to the direction where they had heard the noises, Ash a considerable distance behind Pakura.

Both of them stopped when they were at the source of the noise.

"You stupid Pokémon!" A vaguely familiar voice shouted, shouting at a cowering Pokémon. The Pokémon had its forepaws tied to the trunk, and it slumps barely conscious on its knees, held up only by the ropes at its forepaws. What used to be its back was a raw, bloody slab of flesh. Ash could tell that this Pokémon was a Vulpix judging by the red-brown fur and the six orange tails. By the pleas Vulpix was making, Ash could tell it was female.

"I should've won the Top 128, but you have let me down!" The boy shouted. Ash noted that this boy had teal hair and purple eyes. Ash gasped, in surprise and anger. It was Charizard's former trainer, Damian.

And he is here in their region.

As Damian brought down the whip once more, someone grabbed it. It was Pakura.

"That's enough." Pakura said coldly to Damian, as she reached over to untie the Vulpix and cradle her in her arms. "How could you do this to a Pokémon? You're a monster."

Damian, however, wasn't paying attention. Instead, he was checking her out, looking at her assets, and drooling at her cleavage.

"Wow, a beautiful girl just coming in to talk to me….it must be my lucky day!" Damian approached Pakura. "Would you like to go for some coffee with me, and get to know each other?" He winked at her.

Pakura looked at him in disgust. "I don't go for little boys." She sneered.

"Come on, once you get to know me, you know I'm the One." He reached for her hand, but a Pokémon used Thunderbolt on him, shocking him, and before he could recover, someone gripped his wrist so tightly it actually formed a bruise. Damian turned to see Ash, slightly dazed from the Thunderbolt. Judging by the sparking cheeks of Pikachu's, the Thunderbolt most likely came from him.

"Listen here, Damian, she's not here to accept a date, we are here to arrest you for abuse of Pokémon. You know you can get executed for that, since you are in our region, and you follow our rules." Ash hissed. At the background, Pakura began healing Vulpix.

"Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?" Damian replied arrogantly. "I bet I can beat you in a second!"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, while Lucario and Buneary growled at Damian. Eevee, Sylveon and Skitty were also glaring at him.

"Oh really?" Ash laughed. "How about we battle right here, right now?"

"Sure!" Damian replied, not knowing what he is getting himself into.

"Why don't we make a bet, you win, and I'll let you go…"

"And I get a date with this hot chick!" Damian interrupted, looking at Pakura.

"And you'll get her as a date." Ash agreed. Pakura didn't say anything, as she knew there is no way he'll win. "If I win, you give us…." He paused dramatically. "Your Pokémon and your life. How does that sound?"

"Sounds fine." Damian said, knowing he'd get a beautiful date soon. He couldn't wait to brag to all of his friends. "Go, Absol!"

Much to Ash's disgust, Absol didn't seem to any better condition than Vulpix to battle. He clenched his fists at the battered and bruised body of Absol's. However, he was calm enough to hold Pikachu, Buneary and Lucario back.

"Guys, I think we should send an old friend out. Shall we?" Ash gave a dark smirk.

The Pokémon knew what he meant, and nodded both eagerly and reluctantly.

"Lend me your aura, Charizard!" Ash threw his Pokéball, and out came Charizard, who roared to the heavens, causing some sort of shockwave. He was wearing two Mega Stones on his neck, which he could actually choose which should react with Ash's Key Stone.

"Charizard, we're having a battle with an old friend. Perhaps you want to take care of it?" Ash smiled.

Charizard looked around, before looking down at Damian. He growled when he remembered where he had seen Damian before.

"Charizard, let's take him down…badly." Ash said.

"**I'll do more than that." **Charizard replied, cracking his knuckles.

"You may have the first move." Ash offered.

'As if that makes it any better.' Pakura thought.

"Absol, start things off with Shadow Ball!" Damian commanded.

"Charizard, disperse it with Shadow Claw!" Ash replied. Charizard did, and the Shadow Ball was sliced in half.

"Use Quick Attack!" Damian said.

"Dodge them." Ash nodded to Charizard, and Charizard kept dodging Absol's attacks. Absol tried its best to his Charizard, but he was simply too fast.

"What are you doing, Absol? Hurry up and hit that thing!" Damian yelled.

"Charizard, use Air Slash!" Charizard fired multiple light blue glowing saw disc-like energy blades at Absol, all hitting him effectively.

"Grr…Absol, Double Team!" Absol created copies of itself, but Ash could tell that due to fatigue, the copies were flickering.

Ash knew he had to knock out Absol. "Charizard, let Absol out of its misery. Use Focus Blast." Charizard obeyed, and the super-effective move knocked it out instantly.

"You useless Pokémon! How could you…." Before he could finish, Ash placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You lost. Now to give us what you bet. Your Pokémon, please."

Damian took out all his Pokéballs (which was way more than six and it's illegal unless you're a Gym Leader, Elite Four or Champion) and tossed them to Ash, before turning to leave, but Ash stopped him again with a chilling smile.

'I sure taught him well.' Pakura thought, looking at Ash's disturbing smile, as she absent-mindedly petted the Vulpix, which made Vulpix purr in contentment.

"I haven't get the second thing we want. Your life."

Damian widened his eyes. Was he really going to die? He looked to the girl for help, but she wasn't even looking at him.

"Charizard, Fire Blast. Pikachu, Thunderbolt. Buneary, Ice Beam. Combine all these moves, and make sure he suffers." Ash ordered. "Paku, when they are done, please help me make sure he's dead. I'll be taking his Pokémon to the Pokémon Center." Pakura bowed, showing she understood his orders.

A scream echoed through the deep parts of the forest.

Moments later, there was a gunshot.

* * *

"It's going to be a while before they are healed completely. The abuse has done a lot of damage to them." Nurse Joy reported to Ash and Pakura. "Vulpix seems to be much better, but we are keeping it in the Center just in case."

"Very well, Nurse Joy." Ash nodded. He knew Pakura had the ability to heal Pokémon, but didn't mention it as it might risk Pakura being asked by various people to heal their Pokémon with even the smallest injury, and it may lead to them abusing her power, which means that even if she were exhausted, they would still demand her to keep using that healing power. However, what he didn't know was that she also could heal humans, as she didn't bother telling him that part of her power.

"I think we should get the other Elites to come down here tomorrow. Maybe they can adopt some of the Pokémon." Ash said.

"But we have to ask if they want to come with us or go back to the wild. We have to respect their decision." Pakura replied.

"You're right. We'll ask them, and we'll adopt for those who wants to come along with us."

"You four can adopt them if you like. I have no intention of adopting a new Pokémon after Eevee." She absent-mindedly scratched Eevee under her chin, which made her coo in contentment.

Ash knew that by the very slight exasperation in her tone, she had no intention of taking Eevee as her Pokémon, as she already had all the Eeveelutions she wanted, but Eevee was persistent and followed Pakura around, and she had no heart to just abandon any Pokémon, let alone one that looked like she just recently hatched from her Egg.

"Suit yourself." Ash shrugged. With that, they left the Center.

Unknown to her, a certain Vulpix sounded hurt that Pakura had no intention of adding a new Pokémon. As she fell asleep, she thought when the four people come to check on them tomorrow, she would sneak out to find and convince her.

* * *

"Have you reached a verdict?" William asked the jury. Everyone was seated back in the courtroom awaiting the verdict.

"We have, your Honor." Tenma said.

"And what is the verdict, Tenma?" William asked.

Tenma stood up to read the verdict, and as he did so his mouth was trembling, as he was trying not to smile at the charges that were given to Misty, which had been discussed over dinner. Mika gave him a smack on the arm, and he turned to glare at her.

"Just get on with it." Mika hissed. "And stop smiling."

Tenma just gave her a look that clearly told her that she was crazy, and cleared his throat before reading, "We the jury, in the case of The People of PAL versus Misty, find the defendant…"

Everyone held a breath as Tenma paused at this point.

"Please not be guilty, please not be guilty…." Max chanted. The others also had their fingers crossed for Misty's innocence.

"….Guilty of the charge of breaking into the PAL Tower, attempted kidnap of a Pokémon belonging to Champion Red, and being an accomplice to rekindle a former illegal prostitution deal involving Princess Pakura. Additional charges with resistance of arrest and vandalism of Hunter Association property would also be added. The final sentence would be handed out at 7.30pm tomorrow."

As soon as Tenma read the verdict, May screeched, "You can't do this!"

"Erm, yes, we can, Miss Maple." William replied. "Thank you. Court is adjourned."

The guards took Misty by the arms, and she screamed and kicked while the guards dragged her towards her cell to await the sentence. Her friends tried to get to her, but they were intimidated as the guards showed that the bulge they had sticking out of their jackets was a gun and not the stump of an extraneous third arm as they originally thought.

"You! How dare you land out innocent friend in jail?" Max shouted at Red.

"Innocent? The evidence is all there, and you guys are delusional if you think Manaphy is still May's and Misty did nothing wrong!" Ash snorted.

Max growled, and was about to lung forward at Ash, only to be stopped by the 12 Zodiacs, each of them holding their weapon of choice to intimidate them further.

"Do you really want to take us on?" Akira raised his eyebrows, holding his weapon that looked like a rifle, but works like a cannon when used.

"Yeah, we are like the PAL's Battle Frontier." Kenta replied,holding his two swords in defensive position.

"They are chosen because their Pokémon battling skills are around a typical regional Elite Four member, Max, in addition to their skills to earn them at least one star in their Hunter field. They are our Battle Frontier. Do you still want to challenge them?" Rosaline asked, folding her arms.

"You have a Battle Frontier?" Cynthia whispered to Ash.

"Well, yeah, didn't you know?" Ash replied. "Ours works differently in terms of collecting symbols, though. There are four symbols, but it's cut into 12 pieces. So in order to get one whole symbol, one must defeat the group who holds the three pieces."

"Tenma, Mika and Kenta hold the pieces of the Flame Symbol, Akira, Ryoko and Jin holds the Wind Symbol, Naoto, Ran and Gou hold the Earth Symbol, and Makoto, Ai and Tappei hold the Water Symbol." Jude continued. "Phillip placed a special chip inside that would fix the three pieces to make it into one piece without showing that it was once in three pieces once a challenger gets all three pieces. Due to the fact that the symbols are all cut differently, there is no way the pieces one group is holding can fix with the pieces that is held by another group."

"Usually, the challenger faces Kenta, Jin, Gou and Tappei first, depending on the symbol they are battling for, followed by Mika, Ryoko, Ran and Ai, the female members, and finally the Leaders, Tenma, Akira, Naoto and Makoto. Of course, the Leaders are the strongest." Phillip finished. "They would compete in the Pokémon World championship, but they are pretty busy with their own Hunter jobs, their duties as a Zodiac and in some cases, their everyday jobs, and they would never give them up temporarily in favour of competing in the tournament, especially since they practically run the Hunter's Association."

Just then, there was a scream, and everyone turned in time to see Ryoko having May on the floor with her right arm being twisted behind her back. Apparently, she had tried to attack Ash when she wasn't looking, only to be stopped by Ryoko.

"She's lucky it wasn't Naoto who did it." Ash muttered. Everyone nodded in agreement, as in terms of hand-to-hand combat, Naoto is the best among them, and the only people who have defeated him so far in that were Pakura and Ash (without aura).

Ash watched as Misty was taken away, and the traitors being kept in line by the Zodiacs and the guards. He ignored the heated glares sent to him by them, suggesting they would get revenge on him later.

"**Well, now all we need to do is wait for the sentence tomorrow." **Pikachu remarked.

"**I wonder what sentence they would give her." **Lucario added. **"I hope it's a heavy sentence." **

"They won't give her such a harsh sentence. The theft wasn't even successful. Now let's go, I promised Paul and Gary I'd do a practice battle with them and help out with their training." Ash said.

"Yeah, I want to spend some time with Grimsley now." Rosaline yawned.

"I'll play some sports with Jude. We did promise each other this afternoon." Phillip said.

"I'll come with you." Jasmine added.

Pakura frowned at her three Elites. Those three had been blowing off training ever since they started dating. Well, Jude wasn't dating, but even he started to slack when Phillip and Rosaline started neglecting training.

She shook her head at their relaxed attitude. Those three would eventually face their downfall if they continue to skip training, which she could totally see them do. Of course, she won't warn her Elites, because of two reasons: one, they have to learn things the hard way, and two, she really wanted to see them go down (or suffer) if that day comes.

She turned to Cynthia and mouthed, "Meet me in half an hour" before making her way back to the Tower.

* * *

"Is that all you've got, Paul?" Ash asked. He had his Shiny Greninja out against Paul's Torterra. Due to Greninja's speed, it was very hard for Torterra to hit Greninja despite the type advantage. Gary was currently watching them with his Umbreon, Ash's Pikachu and his Lucario.

"No way, Ash." Paul replied.

"Very well. Greninja, use Water Shuriken!"

"Counter with Razor Leaf!" Paul said. The Water Shuriken and Razor Leaf clashed, and since both of them are at equal power, they simply disappeared upon contact.

"Greninja, use Aerial Ace!" Since Torterra is weak to Flying-moves, it was super-effective, and the Aerial Ace was strong enough to send Torterra skidding backwards.

"Torterra, can you still battle?" Paul asked worriedly. Torterra nodded.

"Alright, use Giga Drain!" Torterra somehow managed to hit Greninja with Giga Drain, slowly draining his energy.

"Greninja, we can't have that now, can we?"

Greninja nodded. **"No we can't, Ash." **

"Glad you agree. Greninja, use Icy Wind!" It was a new move that was taught to Greninja by his Latios just the other day. Greninja worked hard to master this move, and eventually did after a few hours.

"Torterra, get out of the way!"

But it was too late, as the Icy Wind hit him head on. Torterra couldn't stand the sheer power of the Icy Wind, and collapsed with swirls on his eyes.

"Torterra is unable to battle. Greninja wins. Which means, the winner is Ash!" Gary announced.

"Good job, Greninja." Ash petted his Greninja.

"**Thanks, Ash." **Greninja replied.

"Now take a good rest, alright?" Ash said, as he took out Greninja's Pokéball, and returned Greninja.

Ash checked his Stopwatch function in the CommuniDex. "Well, Paul, you lasted for 8 minutes and 43 seconds this time. I'd say it's an improvement."

"Thanks, but someday, Ash, I'll make you go all out against me." Paul declared. He knew Ash was still many levels above him when it comes to Pokémon battling, and Ash was going easy against him.

"I look forward to that day." Ash nodded. "Gary, you ready?"

"Always have." Gary got up, and Umbreon was already battle ready.

"Alright. Gliscor, lend me your aura!"

"You're not sending out any of your Eeveelutions?" Gary asked, surprised.

"Didn't I battle you with my Leafeon the last time, and you lost?" Ash muttered. "Nah, I had enough of battling Eeveelutions with another Eeveelution. Besides, we battle with our Eeveelutions pretty often back at the Plateau. After all, all my Elites combined owned all the Eeveelutions with the exception of Leafeon. So, some other time, Gary."

"Fine." Gary sighed.

"You may have the first move." Ash offered. It was the same offer he gave to Paul earlier.

"Alright, I won't hold back. Umbreon, start things off with Shadow Ball!"

* * *

Cynthia checked herself out in the mirror. She tied her hair in a ponytail, and is currently wearing a black flexible shirt and navy blue short pants provided by the closet in her room. She also replaced her usual black boots with sneakers.

'This should do.' Cynthia thought, as she left her room to take the elevator down to the lobby to meet Pakura.

Sure enough, Pakura was waiting, and she herself was wearing what was supposedly her training outfit- a long sleeved burgundy shirt, a black skirt and navy blue leggings. She was wearing sneakers as well.

"I knew you'd show up." Pakura said, nodding. "Let's go." Pakura headed towards the elevator, and entered, Cynthia following behind. Once they were in, Pakura removed a panel at the bottom of the elevator buttons, revealing a mini keyboard. Cynthia watched as Pakura typed something onto the keyboard, and the elevator doors closed. Instead of going upwards, which Cynthia was used to, the elevator started moving downwards.

The doors opened to a huge gymnasium filled with various weapons and obstacle courses. Cynthia was awed at the sheer number of weapons available in their gym.

"Here is where we usually prepare and practice for when we have to fight for our lives." Pakura explained to Cynthia. "I am going to test your agility and balance." With that, she took Cynthia to the gauntlet.

"This gauntlet is a daunting obstacle courses used by us. As you can see, they consist of ascending platforms that rise up to a landing."

"What's the objective?" Cynthia asked.

"Simple. To jump from platform to platform to finish in the fastest time possible. To make it even more difficult, we usually swing padded clubs at the person currently using it. What makes it even thrilling is that if you lose your balance, you'll fall to the ground."

Cynthia gulped, when Pakura took a padded club from the side of the gauntlet.

"Ready?" Pakura asked. Cynthia nodded. "Alright….go!"

Cynthia started running and jumping on the first platform, and jumping to avoid the padded club Pakura was currently swinging at her.

She jumped to the second platform, and blocked the padded club swinging for her middle this time. The padded club nearly hit her face.

'She's fast.' Cynthia thought, as she pushed the club away and headed for the third platform.

However, as she jumped, Pakura hit the padded club at her legs, which caused Cynthia to lose her balance, and fall to the ground. Cynthia swore she bruised her elbow when she fell.

"Hey, get up." Pakura said. "Try again."

"What?" Cynthia was shocked.

"Do you really think we all take breaks just for one tiny injury?" Pakura snorted. "No, we continue on. Now go attempt the gauntlet again. We are not stopping until you clear the entire gauntlet course."

Cynthia nodded as she got up, and ran towards the gauntlet course, once again jumping on the first platform, with Pakura trying to make her lose her balance.

* * *

"I shouldn't have used Toxic against Gliscor." Gary winced, as Umbreon fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes, and Gliscor looking better than it did before battle, although it was glowing purple, the sign of a poisoned status. He turned to Paul. "I thought you said Gliscor can be poisoned?"

"Well…" Paul replied sheepishly. "During the Lily of the Valley Conference, I did poison Gliscor during my battle with him in the Top 8, so how am I supposed to know Ash's Gliscor has Poison Heal as its ability?"

Ash snickered, as he returned Gliscor. "I activated this Ability during my battle with Jude when I was taking on the Elite challenge. Didn't mention it, did I?" Paul and Gary glared mockingly at him.

"Why don't you two have a Double Battle with me this time?" Ash asked.

Paul and Gary looked at each other, before they shrugged. "Alright." They replied in unison, and sent out Froslass and Blastoise respectively.

"Froslass, and Blastoise, huh?" Ash nodded. "Then…" He threw his Pokéballs, and out came Gardevoir and Delphox.

"Blastoise, start things off with Tackle!"

"Froslass, Ominous Wind!" Paul commanded.

"Gardevoir, use Reflect!" Gardevoir used Reflect to repel Blastoise's Tackle, and he was sent skidding backwards.

"Now Delphox, use Mystical Fire!" Ash didn't give them time to react, and Mystical Fire managed to damage Froslass.

"Froslass, are you ok?" Paul asked, concerned for his Pokémon.

"**I'm ok." **Froslass replied.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Cannon on Gardevoir!" However, Reflect was still in effect, and thus Gardevoir was protected from the attack.

"You know, in double battles, cooperation between trainer and the Pokémon themselves are very important. And since there are two of you, you two need to work together as well." Ash said. "If you only attack one at a time, it's not going to work."

Paul and Gary looked at each other, and nodded.

"Froslass, jump on Blastoise's back!"

"Blastoise, Rapid Spin!" Gary said. The Rapid Spin momentum threw Froslass off, and Froslass gracefully spun above Reflect.

'Very impressive. But…' Ash thought, as Paul said, "Froslass, use Ice Shard."

"Gardevoir, use Shadow Ball!" Ash countered, and the Ice Shards were sent back to Froslass, in addition to the Shadow Ball hitting its mark.

"Delphox, Flamethrower at Blastoise."

"Blastoise!" Gary shouted, but Blastoise opened its mouth and released a strong blizzard to counter Flamethrower.

"Is that…" Paul was surprised.

"It's Blizzard! Blastoise, you learnt Blizzard! That's amazing!" Gary said in awe.

'That was one strong Blizzard. It was able to take on Delphox's Flamethrower, although it was on low power.' Ash thought. He was glad for his friend, whose Pokémon had learnt a new move.

* * *

"Game set, Robinson, 7-5!" A machine announced in the Sports Complex.

Jude panted, as he straightened himself up. "Great game, Phillip!"

Phillip nodded. "You too." He replied, as both of them walked to the benches to get a drink, placing their racquets beside them.

"That was a great job, Phillip." Jasmine complimented. She was sitting at the bench watching them play.

"Thanks." Phillip nodded, as Jasmine passed him his bottle. As both of them started on their isotonic drinks, Phillip started to talk. "Hey, Jude?"

"Yes?" Jude replied, looking at the person sitting next to him.

"Has it occurred to you that we might've been friends with the Dragon Princess at one point?"

"What made you have this theory?" Jasmine frowned, as Jude wiped his sweat off with a towel.

"Look, we all know our memories had been modified and erased. What if it was the memories of the Dragon Princess so we can't give any information on her? And why do I feel like I'm missing something important?" He felt a slight hurt deep inside, and he did not know why.

"Yeah, me too, Phillip. I feel like I lost something dear to me, and I don't even know what it is." Jude sighed. "I feel like our relationships and our lives had been messed up." He didn't mention that he had a very slight inkling that Phillip wasn't his best friend, despite spending the most time together with him. On the contrary, his instincts told him his best friend was Rosaline. So, who was Phillip's real best friend, then?

Phillip was in deep thought about something. He was currently living the good life, as he had everything he could ever ask for: cool friends, a powerful position, great Pokémon, a high-paying job that is dangerous but fulfilling which fits his somewhat adventurous character, and people vying for his attention, especially a certain Gym Leader, who he inwardly admitted was pretty. But he felt that something significant in his life was missing, as if he lost his best friend. Whoever made him think Jude was his best friend all those years must've did a good job on it, and a good job of supressing his actual feelings too.

Jasmine looked at Jude and Phillip worriedly. By the looks of things, there was something off.

'I don't even know how I feel anymore.' Jude thought, cradling his head with his hands. 'Ever since the mysteries have been made known, we're feeling unsure of the truth our lives currently are.'

"It's too bad we don't have Ash's ability to dream of the past. That way, we might be able to dream about our lost memories." Phillip remarked.

"Yeah…." Jasmine agreed.

Then, something struck Jude. "Wait, Ash did mention a dream that he had that involved me and another girl!"

"That dream where you'd promise the girl you'll be a better family than her family would ever be?" Phillip asked.

"I'm almost certain it was the Dragon Princess in the dream, and she was the one that erased our memories in the first place. I say when we find her, we demand for her to return our memories first." Jude said.

"Yeah, I prefer to have my memories back too. I'm sure Rosaline would agree. I wonder what made her do it in the first place, you know take away a chunk of our lives we lived through." Phillip replied.

"Maybe she did something bad and you saw and then she erased your memories to cover her crime or something." Jasmine shrugged.

"Makes sense…." Phillip trailed off. But why does he think it's more than that?

He inwardly shook his head, and turned to Jasmine. "Jasmine, after this, do you want to…well…train your Pokémon with me for your er…battle?"

Jasmine smiled. "I'd love to."

SNAP!

Both of them looked up to see Jude lowering his camera. "Aww, how sweet." He joked.

Jasmine got up, but Jude managed to escape.

Phillip shook his head, as he tried to supress his laughter. "Don't chase him, Jasmine. He usually likes taking pictures of us doing our daily stuff when we are unaware, looks more natural that way, he says. He's very good at photography, you know. I guess we forgot to mention he's a famous blogger as well."

"Must be a really busy social life." Jasmine raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah." Phillip nodded. "That's why he's one of the more popular Elites."

* * *

"You gamble too much, Grimsley." Rosaline looked at Grimsley in disapproval, as they left the Casino in Ludunt City. "Do you know it's unhealthy?"

"Hey, what's wrong with a little bet on your luck?" Grimsley shrugged.

Rosaline shook her head. "Fine, it's either you stop gambling from now onwards, or I'll…."

"Or?" Grimsley prompted her.

"I'm breaking up with you!" There were unshed tears in Rosaline's eyes, as if it hurt her to say that.

Grimsley froze in fear. He remembered what had happened after he asked Rosaline out.

_Grimsley was alone, counting the money he had won through gambling for today. He looked up, and found Pakura pointing a knife at the back of his head in the mirror. _

_"Move and I will kill you. Make a sound, and I will kill you. Attack, I will kill you. If you understand, close your eyes." Pakura said in a soft but deadly tone. _

_Grimsley trembled, and closed his eyes. He knew Pakura is not above in hurting others physically. Once, if he remembered, Rosaline once mentioned she was the best assassin among the five of them. _

_"Now, answer me. You asked Rosaline out correct?" _

_Grimsley meekly nodded._

_"I want you to treat her well. I know of your reputation as a playboy, Elite Grimsley. I know about how you go out with girls, and dump them a week later. I know it all. While I don't care about Rosaline, our Champion would be angry if we were to lose a unit. If you understand, open your eyes, and look at me in the mirror." He did, and saw that her eyes looked like the ones from the underworld._

_"But, Rosaline is an adult, she should-" Grimsley started. _

_"Don't interrupt me, Grimsley." Pakura cut him off coldly. Grimsley flinched at her tone. "You may be Unova's Elite Four member, but if you take one step out of the line, I won't hesitate._ _It has nothing to do with your abilities and position. After all, you are an ordinary Elite, so what am I afraid of?"_

_Grimsley trembled, as Pakura went on, ""I just thought I can warn you whenever and wherever. When you sleep, when you are in the bathroom….One point of advice, never try to ask a PAL Elite out without being ready for commitment. We hate that." With that, she took out a knife, and threw the knife across the room, hitting an insect. Grimsley flinched at her stunning accuracy. _

"_You better do as I say. If you want to go out with her, stay true to her, and do whatever she says. Swear it."_

"_I understand." _

"OK! I will try!" Grimsley shouted, hastily stepping back. The unshed tears immediately disappeared, and Rosaline became happier.

Unfortunately, Grimsley stepped onto a bike gang member's shoes when he stepped back hastily.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing in our turf?" The bike gang member shouted, which made Grimsley turn in surprise. The surprise turned to horror when he realized there were at least 7 gang members in the alley.

Before Grimsley could say anything, he was grabbed by the scarf by the gang member.

"Let go of him!" Rosaline used telekinesis to push the gang member back, forcing him to let go of Grimsley. "You ok?" Rosaline asked Grimsley, who nodded.

The gang members laughed at Rosaline. "Hey little girl what are you doing here trying to protect your boyfriend? You should be with the big guys like us!" One said.

"Yeah, you're pretty cute. Maybe we can squeeze in time for you." Another added.

"We should kill the boy. And take the girl with us." A third nodded. There were murmurs of agreement.

As they approached the pair, Rosaline lit a flame in her hand.

"You do not harm my loved ones." Rosaline said coldly, as she surrounded the gang members with her flames. "Have fun burning to a crisp."

She turned to Grimsley, who was staring at the flames in shock. "Let's go."

"I-I thought you don't kill?" Grimsley spluttered.

"I do. I prefer to do it indirectly, however, and I only kill people who insult my loved ones and myself."

'I don't want to be burned to a crisp.' Grimsley thought, following Rosaline back to Luonto City.

* * *

"Well, I suppose it's an improvement. After all, you did make it up and back down without falling." Pakura shrugged.

Cynthia was panting on the ground, wincing at the injuries she got from Pakura hitting her with the padded club. Who knew she could pack a punch even with a club that won't be much in an actual combat?

Pakura looked at her abrasion and bruises, and sighed, before taking a small plastic box out of her pocket, and throwing it at Cynthia. Cynthia reached out a hand, and caught it successfully.

"Nice reflexes." Pakura said. "Anyway, use this. It's good for wounds, bruises and abrasions. After using these, your injuries should be healed in a few hours."

"Thanks." Cynthia replied, for both her compliment and the item. The pot easily fit into the palm of her hand. As she unscrewed the lid, by the smell of it, she knew it was medicine. She probed the surface of the ointment, and the throbbing in her fingertips (due to abrasions gained from falling) vanished.

Cynthia dipped two fingers into the jar and gently spread the balm over her bruises and abrasions. The effect was almost magical, erasing the pain on contact, leaving a pleasant cooling sensation behind. Cynthia just knew it was not the herbal concoctions she heard people usually use during their Pokémon journeys, it was a high-tech medicine brewed up in labs. She wondered who made this medicine, as it doesn't seem to have a brand, so she had an impression it was a secret recipe from one of the Elites.

"Now, I'll be teaching you how to use a weapon. Which weapon do you want to learn how to use?" Pakura enquired.

Cynthia looked around at the massive collection of weapons provided at the gym. There were so many she wanted to learn how to use, and wondered if she would be able to take those weapons from the gym to use in combat. Her eyes landed on the various bow and arrows that were made in various materials such as wood, plastic, metal, and some that she can't even name just by looking. There were also quivers of arrows with feathers cut in flawless uniform lines. Beside the bow and arrow station, there was a work table with some scrap materials which Cynthia would tell that the table was usually used for making arrows.

"I want to try that." Cynthia requested, pointing to the bows and arrows.

Pakura shrugged. "I guess I can give a short demo." She took a random bow and a sheath of arrows and walked towards the

There were no shooting range that Cynthia could see, no bull's-eyes or human silhouettes. There was only a room that had a glass panel and sliding doors for that station. But Cynthia saw Pakura press a button and a holographic screen and keyboard appeared on the glass. She pressed a few buttons, before entering the room. The room suddenly turned dark.

Cynthia watched as an orange holographic target holding a knife came running towards Pakura, and she shot an arrow straight through it, ducking and taking another and shot through another throwing an axe at her. She shot another arrow at the bullets that were fired towards her by a holographic person and fired one more to destroy the target. She then managed to shoot another one holding a sword and a final one that was running with a trident.

"You're talented with the bow and arrow." Cynthia nodded. She was also impressed with the advanced technology PAL has.

"I went through vigorous training that's all." Pakura made sure to keep the spite off her tone when she said vigorous training, because that would make her want to annihilate Team Rocket for what they did to her. She then worked on the holographic keyboard, and the glass panels disappeared and the bull's-eyes targets and human silhouettes appeared. "Here. I set it to standard for you. Earlier it's the targets we Elites usually use in training, but we have beginner targets as well. Now try to take aim."

Cynthia nodded, and took a bow and slung the sheath of arrows on her body. She loaded an arrow in the bow, took aim, and pulled back the string before releasing it. The arrow flew, and struck the wall next to the target she was aiming.

"Your posture is wrong." Pakura said, going over to help correct Cynthia's stance. "Try to do it like this. Relax your elbow, not so stiff. And I advise you to close one eye for now. The wide view of the second eyes can be distracting."

"What are we going to do after this?" Cynthia asked, as she shot the second arrow.

"We'll call it a day after we go and catch you a new Pokémon."

"A new Pokémon?" Cynthia was so distracted she let the arrow fly, and the arrow hit the wall.

"See, you got distracted and missed the target." Pakura sighed. "Yeah, I've checked your data through the PAL computer on your roster. I think you need more Pokémon. Good thing is you can catch almost any Pokémon you want here, if you look hard enough. Now try the stance I show you and shoot again."

* * *

Lance made it back to his room, and placed the black rectangular box and his Egg case onto his bed. He wondered what the Dragon Princess had given him this time.

He undid the clasp, opened the box, and widened his eyes at the contents.

Inside were many stones that were similar in design to the Charizardite X the Dragon Princess has showed him. Below each stone were labels that told him the name of each Mega Stone, which enabled him to roughly tell which Pokémon the stone is supposed to be used for. There was also a Key Stone in the shape of a necklace.

'She must've checked my data for my Pokémon team, and gave me the stones for those who can Mega Evolve.' Lance thought. 'Thank you, Princess.'

* * *

Ash yawned, as he stepped back into the Tower with Pikachu and Lucario on the way to the elevator so get back to his room for a shower, and then sleep. It had been a long day, and he needed the rest so he could prepare for the Top 32 tomorrow. Alder may be one of the weaker ones in his opinion, but he's still the Champion, and he must not let his guard down.

"**Are you worried about tomorrow's match?" **Pikachu asked Ash.

Ash nodded absent-mindedly. "Sort of."

"**Hey, you don't have to worry too much." **Pikachu petted him. **"After all, you are already more powerful than a regional Champion." **

"True, but I think the regional Champions aren't that simple. Who knows if they have an unexpected strategy they might have up their sleeves."

"**Hey, Ash, what is that?" **Lucario pointed to something above the elevator.

Ash raised his eyebrow as one of the elevators had the "Temporarily Unavailable" sign on it. He wondered who would be training at this time. Certainly not Phillip, Jude or Rosaline, as those three had been doing anything but training those past few days. So that just leaves Pakura.

"It's probably Paku. That girl is always serious in her work and training, sometimes she can cover for the other Elites if anything happens." Ash replied, as he pressed the elevator button. "She's indispensable to our Elite. I wonder what we would do without her."

"**Probably fall apart?" **Lucario joked.

Ash hummed. "Maybe."

Just then, the elevator arrived, and the three of them stepped in and pressed the button to their floor.

Only Phillip was at the living room, watching some Chinese game show. While all Elites are fluent in another language besides English, Phillip is the best in this case. Ash himself is fluent in Latin, French, and Spanish, Jude understands German, Pakura understands Chinese and Japanese, Rosaline understands Korean, and Phillip understands Japanese, Irish, German, French, Italian, Chinese, Korean, Latin, and Spanish.

"Hey, how did tennis with Jude go?" Ash asked.

"Fine." Phillip shrugged. "I won, of course."

"Didn't Jasmine go with you?"

"She did. After that, I went to train her Pokémon for tomorrow."

"You know she had a slim chance against Lance, right?" Ash enquired.

"I know that. But what's stopping her from putting up a good fight against him? Besides, she has a Mega Stone for her Steelix and her own Mega bracelet now."

"You gave her a Key Stone and a Mega Stone?" Ash was surprised.

"Well, yeah. I mean, the friendship between her and her Steelix is pretty strong, so I figured she should use it. Is something wrong?"

Ash made a mental note to give Cynthia a Key Stone and a Mega Stone for her Garchomp as soon as possible. He should probably get to the gymnasium to get the Key Stone and the Mega Stone for her first thing in the morning.

"You're right. The tournament would be much more interesting with the Mega Evolution. And I have a feeling that more of us would get the Key Stone and Mega Stones from us very soon."

Phillip nodded. "Oh, and there's something I have to tell you…"

* * *

"Thanks for helping me catch the Sylveon, Pakura. I'll train him well." Cynthia held up the Pokéball containing her new Sylveon.

"You caught it yourself, Cynthia. I just told you where a wild Sylveon can be found." Pakura waved dismissively. "Anyway, go to bed. You have matches tomorrow. We'll continue training tomorrow, same place, and same time."

"Alright, see you tomorrow. You know, you're the most helpful person I ever met! You can help anyone if you put your mind to it." Cynthia nodded to Pakura, and left, not noticing Pakura suddenly had a closed-off look about her.

Once Cynthia left for the Tower, Pakura suddenly ran back towards the Tower, followed by three worried Pokémon and pressed the up button. As one of the elevators are currently located at the lobby, the doors immediately opened, and she dashed in. She hastily opened the panel, and pressed the passcode, returning back to the gymnasium.

"**Paku's lost her mind!" **Skitty cried worriedly, dodging the vases and various glasses she was throwing haphazardly against the wall using telekinesis. The glasses and vases shattered upon impact, leaving glass shards on the ground. There was a somewhat crazed look in Pakura's face.

"**Not again!" **Sylveon tried to intertwine her feelers on Pakura's arm to try and calm her down, only for her feelers to be slapped away with telekinesis.

"**Stop it, Paku! This isn't the owner I know." **Eevee wailed.

Skitty and Sylveon looked grim. They both knew Pakura wouldn't stop.

"IF I CAN HELP ANYONE WHY CAN'T I HELP HIM? WHY CAN'T I SAVE HIM? WHY?" Pakura was shouting to no one in particular, as much to the three Pokémon's horror, she threw herself on the glass shards. Around her, blood started seeping out.

Just then, a Pokéball opened, and out came Espeon. He sighed when he saw that state Pakura was in.

"**Again?" **Espeon asked. The three of them nodded.

"**I think Cynthia's remark of her being able to help anyone triggered it." **Sylveon said. **"Probably reminded her of that time, you know."**

"**We better get the glass shards off her body first. That way, her body would be able to heal. But be careful." **Skitty warned.

Espeon nodded, and used Psychic to lift Pakura and get the glass shards off her body. Some were easy to take off, others were lodged into her flesh, which made it harder, while the other three Pokémon helped clean up the glass shards.

'How is she going to put herself together to battle tomorrow?' Espeon thought, as Pakura's wounds automatically healed thanks to her Healing Regenerative Factor. 'And the things she do isn't good for her health. At the rate her mental health is going, we might lose her completely in a matter of time.'

"**Come on, let's bring her back to her room." **

Sylveon nodded, and took out one of Pakura's Pokéballs. She opened it, and out came Gardevoir.

Gardevoir looked around, and as soon as her eyes landed on Pakura, she shook her head.

"**Let me guess, again?"** Gardevoir enquired.

"**Yes. Can you bring us all to her room?" **

Gardevoir nodded, and teleported everyone to her room.

"**Thank you."** Espeon said.

"**No problem." **Gardevoir replied. **"Take care of her." **She then got her Pokéball, and returned herself.

Espeon placed her on the bed with a sigh. Pakura's eyes were open, but they were glazed. Apparently her mind has closed off to reality. Espeon used Psychic to close her eyes. Rest might do her some good, even if she didn't really sleep.

'Hmm, what's this?' Espeon wondered, looking at the note in Pakura's pocket and another flower, this time it was a geranium.

'Must've wanted to send this to Ash.' Espeon thought. 'Well, I'll send it for her.' With that, he went out to place the note and flower somewhere where Ash would see, before returning.

Espeon stared at his owner, before liking her on the cheek.

"**Goodnight, Paku, I love you." **He then returned to his Pokéball, after exchanging a tender goodbye with Sylveon.

Sylveon sighed, as the three of them curled up on the bed next to their owner. She knew that the once confident and determined Princess was crushed, not once, but twice. She knew everyone couldn't bear to leave her even if she told them to, for her (and Shiki's) Pokémon were all she had left.

* * *

_Ash found himself staring at Rosaline, who was painting an unknown picture. Rosaline was humming a song, and by the daylight, he knew it was an afternoon._

_Just then, there was a knock on the door. _

"_Come in." Rosaline said to the knocker. _

_The door opened, and someone else, Ash couldn't tell who it was since once again, the person was a silhouette, came in, carrying a tray of strawberry shortcake and some tea. Ash presumed that this was the Dragon Princess. _

"_Hey, you made some cake?" Rosaline sounded excited, putting down her palette and paintbrush. _

"_I'm surprised you haven't splashed paint on yourself." The Dragon Princess sounded amused, as Rosaline washed her hands, before going over to eat the cake. "But then again, you are the best artist, you never spill a single drop of paint." _

"_Thanks. You're great at making pastries too, especially cakes." Rosaline nodded. _

"_Thank you for the compliment." The Dragon Princess said. "So, what are you painting this time? Surely it's not for the Art competition? You already won like the 6__th__ time in the last competition, and the next one isn't until three months later. And I am certain you already finished the mixed-media piece for one of our art galleries, Creative Dream Space."_

"_You're right. I'm doing it for fun this time. I'm almost done with the painting." Rosaline chirped. "Want to take a look?"_

"_I guess it won't hurt." Princess shrugged, as she went over to see the painting. Ash heard her gasp as she saw the painting. _

"_Rosaline….it's beautiful…..I don't know what to say." The Dragon Princess seemed at a loss for words. _

"_I thought since you couldn't have the dream wedding with Shiki anymore, at least you have this. What your wedding picture would look like." Rosaline said shyly. _

"_Thank you, Rosaline." The Dragon Princess replied appreciatively. "I love it." _

"_You can have it as a gift after I'm done." Rosaline offered. _

"_That's very nice of you. I can't thank you enough." _

"_No need to thank me. We're friends, aren't we?" _

Ash sat up, and frowned. Rosaline mentioned that the Dragon Princess couldn't have a dream wedding with Shiki anymore, which meant that Cynthia's suspicions was right. Shiki Kurobane IS the Dragon Prince! And it seemed that this may be another memory that the Dragon Princess had erased from the Elites' mind, considering the memory most likely contained information on who the Dragon Princess really is.

'One thing's for sure. I can't ask Rosaline. She most likely have her memories modified, along with the other three.' Ash thought, as he walked out to the living room, expecting to see Pakura there, only she wasn't.

'She's probably resting after a few nights of not sleeping.' Ash thought. 'But it's still weird not seeing her out here waiting to talk.'

And there was another note on the table, along with another flower.

Ash rushed over, and opened the note. Like the last note, it contained a single line.

_The loneliest people are the kindest._

Ash wondered what the Dragon Princess was trying to tell him. He wished Pakura was here to help him and tell him what the flower meant, but she's probably getting a good rest after a few days of not sleeping. He placed the note in his pocket, and decided to make his way to the gymnasium, figuring now that he's awake he should get the Mega Stone and Key Stone for Cynthia. With the elevators, the ride was less than a minute.

Once he arrived at the gymnasium, he walked over to the cupboard at the corner, and opened it. He noted that the Mega Stone supply seemed to be depleted, but shrugged, and took one of the Garchompite for Cynthia. He looked at the various Key Stones available, before deciding on a necklace, as she could always conceal it under her shirt for safekeeping. He placed both in his pocket to give to Cynthia later in the day.

He heard something break when he stepped on the floor, and Ash looked down. He realized it was some piece of a vase, and looking around, he realized several glass decorations and vases were missing. Ash sighed. It looked like he'd have to order more decorations and vases. He looked back down at the piece of glass, and realized the floor around it had dried blood on them.

'But none of us would be bleed that much during training, especially Paku.' Ash thought, knowing she was probably the last person who used the gymnasium, having used it the previous evening. 'Unless she deliberately broke the glass deco and the vases, and is crazy enough to throw herself at the sharp pieces, which might explain the missing vases and glass deco, but I'm sure Paku would know better than that. Perhaps it was just a minor accident. And if she had a problem, she'll talk it out with me, I'm sure.' With that thought, he cleared up the remaining pieces, and made his way back to the elevator, dismissing the feeling that something might be wrong.

Much to his surprise, when he arrived back at the twelfth floor, Paku was there, looking at the wall blankly.

"Hey, Paku." Ash greeted her. He thought his Leader looked worse than usual. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot, with the tired look about it, her hair was lank and unkempt, and Ash noted there was a defeated look about her.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, concerned about his Leader.

Pakura nodded.

"You don't look fine." Ash frowned. "Something wrong?"

Pakura shook her head. "Just work."

"Why not get the other three to help or something? It might lessen your workload."

"They seemed too busy with their social lives, so I thought I won't burden them with my work." Pakura replied sarcastically. She yawned. "Where did you go?"

"Went to get a Key Stone and a Garchompite for Cynthia." Ash replied.

"Ah….ok. I knew you'd give her one sooner or later, considering the huge competition here and she probably needs all the help she can get to win the Cup. So, what dream do you have this time?"

Ash told her about it, and when he was done, she had this thoughtful look to her face.

"It seems that you have been dreaming of the lost memories of ours. I think I have a theory to why she erased their memories."

"And what is that?"

"We all know the Dragon Princess had some sort of a mysterious but tragic past. But perhaps this past has allowed her to learn to protect others so they would never suffer the same fate. What if she erased their memories to protect them?"

"But both memories are happy and not…" Ash trailed off.

"No, hear me out. Maybe if they still had memories of her, they would question her actions as of late, and try and find out what happened, and maybe she wanted to prevent that and protect them quietly. Thus, she erased their memory."

"Now you're making sense." The pieces now clicked in Ash's mind. "But the question is, if the Dragon Princess loved all of you very much, why is she causing all these, and harming us?"

"Maybe she was disappointed. That they couldn't fight the memory blocks she placed." Pakura shrugged. "Or her love turned into hate over time."

"Anyway, maybe Phillip and Jude would regain their memories soon." Ash mentioned.

"What makes you say so?" Pakura enquired.

"Phillip and Jude had the feeling that their memories had been modified and their lives and relationships was not what it seems. They said they feel like they are missing something. I think they are starting to resist the memory block."

'This is bad. Once Ash goes to sleep, I better go to each of their rooms to try and strengthen their memory blocks. I can't afford for them to regain their memories. They'll try and stop me from doing what I am going to do later, especially Phillip because he wouldn't want to lose his best friend. But if their memories are gone, they wouldn't mourn the loss so much.'

"Is there anything wrong? You've gone quiet." Ash was concerned.

"Ah…no. I was wondering why Rosaline and I didn't feel that something is wrong or missing. Are our minds that weak?"

"Don't worry, just give it time. I'm sure you'd feel something is wrong soon. And I think we can then piece what memories the Dragon Princess took from you. But at least we know that Shiki Kurobane is the Dragon Prince. I think the Dragon Princess lied to Lance about this."

"So, should we tell him?" Pakura asked.

Ash shook his head. "Not until we solve this. We might turn the Dragon Princess in to Lance for him to decide what to do with her. After all, she killed nearly his entire clan, and ruined his home."

"Fair enough." Pakura nodded. "But by the dream, it just seems to me all she wanted was to be Shiki's bride. Rosaline probably painted her imagination on what the couple would've looked like on their wedding day."

"Oh yeah, one question."

"What?"

"Another note came and another flower. Dragon Princess must've sent it" Ash showed her the note and the flower.

Pakura frowned, as she didn't remember leaving it at the table, but thought maybe her Espeon did it.

"The loneliest people are the kindest. And who do you think of when you read it?"

Ash wanted to say "You" but afraid that it may offend her, so he merely said, "Nobody I know. So, know the meaning of this flower?"

"It means Stupidity or Folly."

"You mean she's mocking us for being stupid?" Ash was slightly outraged.

"Pretty much." Pakura didn't seem as fazed for being called stupid. "Maybe because we haven't figured out who she is."

Ash yawned. "I think we better save that for tomorrow, we need to sleep now, we have matches tomorrow."

"You go first, Ash. I still got things to do."

"Just promise me you'll sleep in five minutes. You haven't been resting well, and I can tell." Ash said sternly. "It's starting to take a toll on you."

"Alright, I promise." Pakura waved him off.

"Goodnight, Paku."

"'Night."

'Luckily I did force myself to pull myself together to hear Ash's dreams and his opinions. If not I wouldn't have been able to plan the next step.' With that thought in mind, she teleported away.

* * *

"What's so important that you have to drag us to the Pokémon Center before breakfast?" Jude grumbled. His head hurt somewhat, and he attributed it to lack of sleep. Well, at least the feeling of something may be wrong with his life is gone. His Liepard was nuzzling his legs to help keep him awake.

"We caught a Pokémon abuser before we returned to court. I figured we could adopt some of his Pokémon, considering how many Pokémon he has. I wonder if he's even licensed, since he had way more than six Pokémon with him." Ash muttered.

"Did you kill him?" Phillip asked, petting his Emolga.

Ash nodded.

"Well, that's good. But why isn't Pakura coming with us?" Rosaline enquired.

"She said she doesn't have any intention of adopting another after Eevee." Ash shrugged, as they stepped in the Pokémon Center.

"Hello, Elites." Nurse Joy greeted them. "Here to see the Pokémon?"

"Yes." Ash replied. "How are they?"

"Good, thank you for asking. The Pokémon are recovering nicely. But some are still emotionally jittery." Nurse Joy replied, and her Blissey nodded. "They are currently living in rooms that we assigned for them until we find the time to bring them back in the wild or someone comes along and adopt them."

"So, Blissey, did you ask if they wanted to go back to the wild or be adopted?" Ash enquired.

"**I did. Nurse Joy and I took the liberty into separating the Pokémon into two different rooms. Shall I take you to the room where the Pokémon wished to be adopted?" **

"I know I've seen it many times, but understanding PokéSpeech is still impressive." Nurse Joy complimented.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy." Jude gave her a smile that made her blush.

Ash nodded for Blissey to lead the way, and Blissey led the four of them to a door.

"**Here is where the Pokémon who wanted to be adopted is currently residing at." **

Ash nodded, as he opened the door, gesturing for the other Elites to enter.

"Whoa, just how many Pokémon does this guy have?" Jude demanded. "Is it even legal?"

"Beats me. But I'm glad he's gone." Rosaline replied, looking around at the hopeful eyes of the Pokémon. She immediately saw one she liked, and went over to greet it.

Ash watched as Rosaline started to connect with a Chikorita, and he himself went over to a Swampert.

"Hello." Ash greeted. The Swampert looked at him warily.

"Don't worry, I'm a friend. I'm here to help." Ash said kindly, holding out a hand. "I promise, I would never hurt you."

"**He'll never do it, Swampert. All of us are happy under his ownership. I promise." **Pikachu assured.

"**That's right. He values Pokémon more than his own life."** Lucario replied. **"And I'm sure you're a brave one, wanting to be adopted and try for a new trainer."**

Swampert considered their words, before holding Ash's hand, and calmed down at the soothing aura he emitted.

"Do you want to be my Pokémon? It's ok if you don't." Ash smiled.

Swampert shrugged. **"I guess I can try again."**

"Good. But so you know, you can leave anytime you want, if you don't like me. Just say the word." Ash nodded, as he tapped a Pokéball, and Swampert got sucked in. He then went over to talk to another Pokémon called Smeargle, who was sitting on the bed staring into space.

At the corner of the room, a Vulpix and Shinx were talking. They were hiding under the bed.

"**The girl from last night isn't here." **Vulpix whispered sadly. She was hoping the girl would change her mind and arrive to come get her.

"**You mean the girl you were talking about last night when we arrived?" **The Shinx replied.

Vulpix nodded. **"I want the girl to be my owner." **

"**I know she sounds amazing and all, but are you sure you even know how to find her?" **The Shinx sighed. Her best friend didn't want to be adopted by any of them because she had her mind set on a girl, but apparently, the girl didn't come to the Pokémon Center. And as her best friend, she would stay by the Vulpix's side until the very end, and agreed that if they get adopted, they must be adopted by the same person.

"**I got a plan. Once they finish selecting the Pokémon they wish to take care off we'll sneak out of here and then follow that boy…" **Here, she pointed a paw at Ash. **"To find that girl. Those two were seen together yesterday, and I'm very sure he'll lead us to her."**

The Shinx nodded. **"If you say so." **

* * *

"Yay, I got a Clefairy, Chikorita and a Lilligant!" Rosaline held out her three Pokéballs. Espeon was trotting by her side, excited to have some new teammates.

"Bisharp, Dedenne and Aegislash are all mine!" Phillip was putting two Pokéballs in his pocket, and his new Dedenne was out on his shoulder. Emolga was currently helping Dedenne feel welcome.

"And I got a Vivillion, Ninetales and a Dewgong." Jude said happily. "What did you get, Ash, besides that Smoochum?" He looked down at the Smoochum in Ash's arms, who was waving its arms and legs happily.

"I got a Swampert, a Smeargle, as well. I wonder how Damian can abuse Pokémon like them. Good thing is the ones we didn't adopt would be open for adoption to all the other trainers. But they have to go through a test first before adopting in case a new Damian appears." He knew that they didn't need any test because everyone knew that the PAL Elites treat their Pokémon very well.

Unbeknownst to them, a Shinx and a Vulpix snuck out of the Pokémon Center and followed them.

* * *

Because they spent too much time choosing what Pokemon to adopt, they had no choice but to rush to the Battle Arena, which was where the rest met them.

"Where were you?" Grimsley demanded. "We were waiting for you, and you didn't show up!"

"Sorry, it was my fault. I was in a rush and wanted my Elites to adopt some Pokémon that was previously under the ownership of an abusive trainer." Ash apologized.

"So you got new Pokémon?" Cynthia sounded excited.

Ash nodded, and they showed off their new Pokémon.

Everyone except Pakura looked impressed at the Pokémon. She simply rolled her eyes and petted her Eevee.

"I got a new Pokémon too!" Cynthia declared, and the Pokéball opened to reveal Sylveon.

"You caught a Sylveon? Since when?" Rosaline stared at the Sylveon open-mouthed.

"Caught it last night." Cynthia replied.

"That's great! Congratulations!" Jasmine seemed thrilled for Cynthia.

The getting of Pokémon seemed to remind Ash of something. "Oh yeah, now I think of it, there is something I want to give you."

"What is it, Ash?"

"Follow me." With that, they left the Battle Arena.

"I wonder what was it that he wants to give her that can't be given in front of us." Rosaline wondered.

The others shrugged, while Pakura simply rolled her eyes and was about to leave, when Phillip called her.

"What?" She asked irritably.

"Well…there's a Shinx and Vulpix following you." He said hesitantly.

She looked down, and sure enough, looking back up at her with innocent eyes were a Vulpix and a Shinx.

"One of you get them. I have no intention of taking them." Pakura said, waving dismissively.

Phillip and Jude reached out to take them, but the Shinx and Vulpix dodged, and jumped into Pakura's arms. Pakura stumbled slightly as a result.

"**Hey! Get off!" **Eevee yipped angrily.

"**Please adopt us!" **Vulpix begged Pakura.

"**Why don't you like us?" **The Shinx asked, looking hurt.

"Well, we'll just leave you." Jude chuckled, as they left for the Battle Arena, leaving Pakura to deal with the Shinx and Vulpix. He could feel Pakura's eyes burning at the back of his head, but tried to shrug it off.

* * *

"I got to go now. The first match is mine." Ash said. He had to separate from Cynthia once again, as he had to go to the Launch Room to get to the battlefield, since his battle was the first one. He thought he was lucky he wore a hood otherwise they would've seen the smudged lip-gloss on his face right now. Not that he minded Cynthia showing affection as thanks, but he wished she did it at the right time.

"Alright. Good luck." Cynthia gave him one last kiss on the cheek, before leaving for the VIP Box.

Ash then went down to the Launch Room as usual, and flopped onto the couch, washing the lip-gloss off his face at the sink.

"**She really liked the Mega Stone and Key Stone, huh?" **Pikachu joked.

"**Well duh." **Lucario looked at Pikachu incredulously.

Ash laughed nervously as he sat down on a couch, waiting for the time where he'll have to step on the platform. He ate some food provided, since they didn't have breakfast.

"**Are you nervous for the match? It's the first match you have against a regional Champion." **Lucario said.

"A little. But I'm sure I'll win." Ash replied, as a pleasant female voice announced it was time to get to the battlefield, and Ash stepped on the platform with his Pokémon. A glass box lowered around them as usual.

"Continuing the Top 32 at the PAL Battle Arena, and the first battlefield of Round One of the top 32 battles would take place in Icy Terrain." said Ken. At this cue, the neutral battlefield was replaced with an ice battlefield.

"And our first competitors are Champion Red and Champion Alder!" That was when the platform pushed both competitors out of the battlefield.

"Trainers, please send out your Pokémon!" Evan said.

"Alright, Chandelure, I choose you!" Alder chose the Fire/Ghost Luring Pokémon.

"Flygon, lend me your aura!" Ash sent out the Ground/Dragon Pokémon, one of his traded Pokémon.

"**Ooh, I get to battle?" **Flygon said eagerly. **"That Chandelure looks strong!" **

"Yes. So will you fight for me?" Ash smiled.

"**You bet I will." **Flygon replied.

"Trainers ready?" Both Ash and Alder nodded. "Then…battle begin!"

**BP: And that's all for chapter 11. I got a few things to announce too. (do read this)**

**There is one reason why I didn't reveal Ash's identity. It's because I want him to meet various rivals like how he met the other Elite Fours and Champions, only this time he is the celebrity. **

**Unfortunately, I couldn't display Ash's other abilities in this chapter, as you can see, I couldn't find a way to fit it in. Really sorry about that. **

**Yes, Pakura would train Cynthia in various aspects, so I'll let you readers decide what to teach her this time. She was taught the bow and arrow and balance, agility and jump. **

**Yes I will write the alternate version as soon as I finish season 1/or the entire story.**

**I'm sorry if the traitors aren't having their spotlight in this chapter, as I couldn't find anyway to fit them in the storyline for this chapter. Also, killing Damien off was one of the highlights of this chapter, so….**

**Ash told Pakura to kill Damien instead of doing it himself is because Pakura likes to do the dirty work of killing. Yes, she may seem like a murdering sociopath, but she used to be a sweet girl who never hurt a fly. She only started killing when something tragic happened. **

**Yes, Pakura reapplied the memory blocks off screen to make things more difficult (in exchange, she was telling the truth to Ash about the theories, so the theories were actually the reasons why she did all these). It is up to the three of them to fight it off mentally, although it may be difficult (but not for Ash since he has the ability of Indomitable Will, which means he can use sheer willpower to resist her psychic powers. **

**And no, she didn't invade Ash's mind in any way. Sometimes, his thoughts are loud enough to be picked up, and he tells her everything anyway.**

**Yes, Ash is in a higher position than the other four Elites, as he's a Champion and he leads the Elite, and he also has the highest position in PAL as Prince, which is why he constantly refers to the other four as his Elites (except Pakura, he refers to her as his Leader as she is the Leader of the Elite). **

**Grimsley would get his Egg in the next chapter. For now it's still at the cave, probably taken care of by Espeon.**

**Suggestions are welcome on the following:**

**1\. Pairings in the story (I think you can suggest any pairing you want to see here.)**

**2\. Any traitors you want Paul, Gary, Tracey, the Elites, or their love interests to battle in particular (outside of tournament)**

**3\. What should Pakura train Cynthia in next?**

**4\. What kind of Key Stone should Grimsley get (necklace, bracelet) and what should Jasmine's one be (Phillip gave her one but it wasn't stated what kind of Mega Stone it was). **

**5\. The story is split into two Arcs: The Mystery Arc and the Five Bosses Arc. Do you want the Top 8 to happen during the Mysteries Arc or the Five Bosses Arc **

**6\. What Pokémon should Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine catch? (Can be any Pokémon except those listed before in my A/N, and what they have caught so far in this chapter.)**

**7\. When should the traitors find out who Red really is, and how? (reason why I haven't revealed him was stated, so I would reveal him only after he finishes meeting the people that he is supposed to meet)**

**8\. I decided that people should meet Ash and the others for a change, since this time, Ash is the celebrity instead of a fan. Who should Ash meet? It can be his old rivals from the regions he traveled in, or even characters of the day from Pokemon episode (but if it's the latter, I'd appreciate it if you mention which episode this character came from)**

**9\. Do you want me to start writing the Ash x Pakura version of this story after I finish season 1 or I finish this entire story? I am fine with both. Oh and tell me what differences would you like to see in the alternate version, as the AV is a much darker fic than the original. **

**10\. Whose turn should it be to film the next week's PokéVision and what should it be about?**

**11\. What sentence (not verdict, since she is guilty) should Misty be given in the next chapter?**

**12\. Any suggestions on how I can write the next chapter? (running out of ideas)**

**Do favourite, follow and review this story**

**PS: If you don't happen to like it, don't read. I don't get why I had to have a critical review that I can't delete since it's signed. True, Pakura may seem overpowered at first but hey, she has flaws and her own fears too, and with her mental health it's a miracle she isn't in the mental hospital. If you think betrayal fics aren't worth it in the first place, and I solidified this belief, don't read. I really had enough, because I think I can write what I want, and I like writing this. And technically she's an antagonist here, and do you think I'd make it easy? **


	12. Disturbing actions, closing in

**BP: Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews, favourites and follows. I appreciate it. **

**But I really want to say two things: If you don't like the story, don't read it, and number two, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Anyway, there's a signed review that didn't like it and made it so clear (thanks a lot, girl), and the problem with signed reviews is, I CAN'T delete it. Anyway, this girl (apparently she has two fanfic accounts, according to Four4Two) doesn't know or care that what she said may hurt others' feelings. **

**And this story is a story of friendship, and even the most broken can be healed with help, which you would find out soon enough. Also, this is a story where Ash has to save his friends before he can save his region. If you don't like Pakura, the deuteragonist, don't worry, you will have a choice to kill her to spare her after I post the chapter that ends Season 1. (She'll probably be replaced by Shiki if you choose to kill her off) **

**Well, if you think these scenes are nonsense like spacecowboy2011, don't read! **

"You may have the first move." Ash offered to Alder.

"Don't mind if I do. Chandelure, start things off with Flame Burst!"

"Protect yourself with Sandstorm!" Flygon used Sandstorm to form a shield around itself to protect from Flame Burst. The Flame Burst was extinguished by the Sandstorm, which left Flygon safe.

"Use Sonic Boom!" Ash said, and Flygon's wings glowed white and it waved them, releasing a shockwave from its wings at the opponent. Due to the Sandstorm still surrounding Flygon, the Sonic Boom mixed in with Sandstorm, and both attacks hit Chandelure. Chandelure was knocked back but it simply shook its head, before getting back to battle stance.

"No way!" Alder said.

'While Chandelure is immune to Normal type moves, being part Ghost-type, it is weak to Ground type moves, which is what Sandstorm is. I simply mixed Sandstorm with Sonic Boom to make an improvised Ground-type move, which of course hit it effectively.' Ash thought.

"He made use of the Sandstorm to hit Chandelure using a Normal-type move. Amazing." Alder said. "But I have some more tricks up my sleeve. Chandelure, use Trick Room!" Chandelure's body glows light blue and large light blue rectangle with light blue transparent walls and ceiling appeared around the battlefield, trapping the two Pokémon inside.

"Darn." Ash muttered. He knew Trick Room was a troublesome move, as when it is in effect, the slower Pokémon on the field would move extremely fast. Sure enough, Chandelure is like a blur, moving around the Trick Room, as if to taunt Flygon. Flygon looked like it was about to attack Chandelure for taunting it.

"Calm down, Flygon." Ash said. Flygon looked at Ash, and gave a nod of understanding.

"Chandelure, Shadow Ball!" The Shadow Ball fired was extremely fast.

"Flygon, hit it back with Iron Tail!" Flygon obeyed, and the Shadow Ball went flying back to Chandelure. It managed to dodge the Shadow Ball, due to its current speed thanks to Trick Room, but the Shadow Ball merely grazed its arm.

'I have to get Flygon out of the Trick Room somehow.' Ash thought. 'Hmm….I got it!'

"Chandelure, Energy Ball!"

"Counter with Hone Claws!" Flygon managed to slice the Energy Ball in half, which exploded in green sparkles. The residue of the Energy Ball stuck to Flygon's Hone Claws, which Flygon tried to slash Chandelure with it, but Chandelure was too fast. The slash left a trail of green light behind, which Rosaline noted it might be good for Pakura's future Appeals for Contests.

"Flygon, Signal Beam at Chandelure!" Ash commanded. He gave a subtle nod to Flygon, who understood what Ash really wanted.

"Dodge it!"

"A mistake, Alder. I wasn't really aiming for Chandelure."

"What?" Alder was surprised, as Signal Beam actually hit the Trick Room wall instead, which cracked, and the crack spread all over the Trick Room, finally shattering it.

"No way…" Alder said in awe.

"Now, Flygon, use Dragon Breath!" Ash ordered. Flygon obeyed, and shot a Dragon Breath towards Chandelure.

"Chandelure, Fire Blast!" Both Dragon Breath and Chandelure clashed in the middle, exploding in the middle.

"Supersonic!" Ash said, and Chandelure became confused. It started to float around randomly, bumping into walls.

"Chandelure!" Alder cried out, concerned for his Pokémon.

"Use Rock Tomb!" Ash commanded. The Rock Tomb surrounded Chandelure, and Chandelure, still confused, began bumping into the rocks.

"Chandelure, try to use Flame Burst to break free." Alder said. At the same time, Ash told Flygon to use Stone Edge, which managed to hit Chandelure. The Flame Burst exploded into Chandelure's face when Stone Edge hit it, and Chandelure fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Chandelure is unable to battle. Flygon wins. Champion Alder, please send in your next Pokémon."

* * *

"Wow that was amazing!" Tenma and his fellow Zodiacs were up in one of the private boxes as their ticket entitles them to the private box. The private box was a small box, set at the highest point of the stadium and situated somewhere near the VIP Box. About twenty purple-and-gilt chairs stood in two rows, and they were able to have an unobstructed view of the battle. "I'm so glad I asked Prince Red for those tickets."

"You can say that again." Ran replied, as Makoto was busy taking pictures for his next article on the tournament, as he was assigned to cover the tournament. Mika and Kenta were currently cheering for Champion Red.

"But what's with the Trick Room thing?" Ai enquired.

"Champion Red knew that while Bug-types moves aren't effective on Chandelure, it's most likely super effective against Trick Room, which is a Psychic move, and he figured it might break Trick Room. It's a clever move on his part." Ryoko explained.

"He was right, though. It didn't take much to shatter Trick Room, did it?" Jin asked.

"It didn't." Tappei agreed.

"Do you think he'll switch Pokémon, or stick to Flygon?" Gou wondered.

"If the glimpses of his previous battles are any indication, it's most likely he'll switch." Akira answered, watching as Alder sent out his Druddigon next. Sure enough, Ash returned his Flygon, thanking it for a job well done, and sent out Milotic.

"Wow, that Milotic is beautiful." Ai admired the Tender Pokémon.

"Yeah." Naoto agreed.

"It's just like Pakura's or Jude's Milotic." Mika remarked, as she, like everyone else, was admiring the Pokémon.

* * *

"**Everyone is looking at me with admiration? But why?" **Milotic wondered, looking around at the audience.

"Milotic, it's because everyone thinks you're beautiful." Ash smiled.

"**But I'm ugly!" **Milotic protested.

"No you're not. True beauty is always on the inside. But now, you're beautiful, both inside and out." Ash replied gently.

"**Thank you." **Milotic blushed.

"Now are you ready for a battle?"

"**Definitely!" **Milotic nodded, and readied herself for a battle.

"**Good luck, Milotic!" **Pikachu was waving pom-poms he got from nowhere.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Milotic, start things off with Ice Beam!" Ash said. Milotic nodded, and started to fire an Ice Beam at Druddigon.

"Counter with Flamethrower!" Alder said. The Flamethrower and Ice Beam clashed, and (not) surprisingly, the Ice Beam managed to freeze Flamethrower. The Ice Beam then went on to hit Druddigon, which caused it to skid backwards.

"You can freeze Fire-type moves?" Alder was surprised.

"Yeah, do you really think Paku is the only one?" Ash replied.

'This Red is full of surprises. He really is unpredictable.' Alder thought.

"I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve." Ash announced, as if he read Alder's thoughts. "Milotic, Disarming Voice!" Milotic opened her mouth and released a beam of purple hearts in a loud shrieking voice, hitting Druddigon. Druddigon was also covering its ears at the move.

"Druddigon, Hyper Beam!" Alder commanded.

"Counter with Dragon Breath!" Ash ordered.

Both attacks clashed in the middle but Dragon Breath managed to overpower Hyper Beam after a few moments, and Druddigon was hit by Dragon Breath. It was a risky move on Alder's part since Hyper Beam required a time period to rest.

Ash took advantage of this resting time to fire a Toxic at Druddigon, effectively poisoning it.

"Druddigon, use Draco Meteor!" Druddigon obeyed, and its body glowed orange and it shot an orange ball of light into the sky that exploded, releasing multiple smaller spheres at Milotic. It groaned as the poison slowly took away its energy.

'Not bad, he knows how to use Draco Meteor. But…' Ash thought. "Milotic, counter with Ice Beam!" Ash said out loud. Milotic opened her mouth, and fired Ice Beam at the incoming spheres. The multiple light blue beams managed to his the spheres, freezing it, and turning them into ice shards.

"Now, use Twister to destroy them!" The Twister mixed in with the ice shards created from both the battlefield and the ice spheres created earlier, and everyone could see that the ice shards were spinning at a fast rate inside the Twister.

"Destroy the Twister using Heat Wave!" Alder ordered. Despite the fatigue caused by poison, Druddigon managed to fire a powerful Heat Wave, which Ash silently commended him for, but expected as a Champion's Pokémon.

"Use Icy Wind!" Ash countered. "You've got to take on the Heat Wave!"

Milotic took on the Heat Wave with Icy Wind, and held it there until Ash nodded. Milotic then slithered to one side. Due to the ice battlefield, she got out of the way relatively quickly, and that was when the Twister, infused with Ice Shards, hit Druddigon.

"Finish it off with Dragon Pulse!" Ash commanded.

"Druddigon, Flamethrower!" Alder countered.

The sphere clashed with Flamethrower, and slowly pushed through Flamethrower despite Druddigon's best efforts. Eventually, it reached its mark and it hit Druddigon, and exploded in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, Druddigon was shown with swirls in its eyes, the damage taken and poison clearly taken its toll.

"Druddigon is unable to battle. Champion Alder, please send out your last Pokémon!"

* * *

"Wow, Red trained it well for someone who only had that Milotic for a few days." Jude commented.

"Wait, he only had it for a few days?" Aaron, who was sitting behind Phillip, heard what Jude said.

"Yeah, I remember he traded 29 of his Pokémon away to various Trainers, and he only got all his traded Pokémon on the third day of tag battles, which was a break for us since we already won two matches. There's something about him that makes Pokémon like him, so I guess that's why." Rosaline explained. As soon as Rosaline finished her explanation, the other guests talked among themselves as to how powerful the Champion really is.

"Doesn't Pakura have the same trait? I mean, that little Eevee was practically clinging to her and refused to return to her Pokéball so she can be out with her. Also, the Shinx and Vulpix wanting to be adopted by her." Phillip said.

"There are Pokémon wanting to belong to her?" Aaron was incredulous. What was it about the sullen princess that made Pokémon want to be under her ownership, and three of them in a span of a few days, no less?

"Wow, she's lucky to have an Eevee. It's such a rare Pokémon." Caitlin said enviously. "I always wanted to have an Eevee to evolve into Espeon, but alas, I can never find one."

"Don't worry, Caitlin, I'm sure you'd find an Eevee somewhere in this region." Cynthia said in an assuring tone, thinking about the wild Sylveon she had caught just the other day.

"Speaking of which, what is taking Pakura so long to handle the Shinx and Vulpix?" Grimsley enquired.

The others shrugged, not knowing what Pakura is currently doing either.

* * *

Alder decided to send out his Volcarona as his final Pokémon. While he was sending out Volcarona, Ash decided to send out his Gyarados. Gyarados came out with a roar to the heavens.

"Ready for that, Gyarados?" Ash gave Gyarados a "You know what I mean, right?" look.

"**Of course, Ash." **Gyarados replied. He hadn't spent the few years with Ash for nothing, since he was one of the Pokémon Ash caught during the four years.

"Gyarados, let our aura become one!" Gyarados' Mega Stone was reacting to Ash's Mega Glove, and the lights of Mega Evolution appeared. Gyarados glowed in a colourful light, and evolved into Mega Gyarados.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Volcarona, don't let Mega Gyarados react! Use Sunny Day, followed by Solar Beam!" Due to Sunny Day, Solar Beam could be fired immediately.

"Gyarados, counter it with Dragon Rage, hurry!" Ash said. Both attacks clashed, and the moment they did, Alder ordered Volcarona to use Hurricane, and Mega Gyarados was sucked into the Hurricane.

"Darn it! Gyarados, don't give in! Use Twister!" Ash commanded. Mega Gyarados opened his eyes and formed a Twister, cancelling the Hurricane.

"Signal Beam, Volcarona!" Alder said, before Ash could react. Mega Gyarados must've sensed Ash's panic, as he moved out of the way without command, signalling that Ash and Mega Gyarados' hearts are now synchronized.

"Wild Charge, go!" Alder commanded.

"Giga Impact!" Both Pokémon met head on, and passed each other, landing safely on the ground.

"Volcarona, let's use Leech Life."

"Oh, no, you don't. Gyarados, Crunch!" Mega Gyarados bit on Volcarona, and swung it around before throwing it towards the wall, but Alder had Volcarona save itself with Gust.

"Gyarados, Thunder Wave." Mega Gyarados obeyed, which paralyzed Volcarona.

"Volcarona, Façade!" Alder ordered.

"Gyarados, Stone Edge." Volcarona took the Stone Edge head on, and managed to hit Gyarados with Façade. Mega Gyarados, not willing to give up yet, pushed Volcarona off him.

"Dark Pulse!" Ash said, and Mega Gyarados hit Volcarona with the most powerful Dark Pulse it can muster. Volcarona fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Volcarona is unable to battle. Mega Gyarados wins. Which means, Champion Red would be moving on to the Top 16!" Everyone cheered for Ash, who gave a polite wave as he made his way back to the VIP Box with Pikachu and Lucario.

"**Great battle out there." **Lucario complimented.

"Thanks. Alder did put up quite a fight, though." Ash remarked.

* * *

"I want a Mega Stone for my Gyarados." Clair remarked to her cousin, who was clutching to his Egg case, pointing to Mega Gyarados. "Our remaining clan members can use something like that. It could help restore our clan's reputation."

Lance stayed silent, as he thought of the night Blackthorn City was wiped out, and placed in an eternal winter. In a way he was actually glad it happened because whoever did it killed his fiancé that the Elders arranged for him, as he had never liked his arranged fiancé anyway. He thought she was a bimbo, and she was a creepy stalker, having an obsession with him. How she was daughter of an influential family in the clan was beyond him. Well, at least he is free to choose his own wife.

Lance blushed when he suddenly thought of the Dragon Princess, the gentle girl who gave him so much help related to training Dragon Pokémon and the concepts of Mega Evolution.

"Are you listening, Lance?" Clair sounded irritated.

"Huh? What?" Lance snapped out of his thoughts.

"I was asking you if you had found out anything about the culprit that killed our clan." Clair whispered.

Lance shook his head. "No."

Clair sighed. "Alright, but your match is up next. Good luck."

Lance nodded his thanks as he gathered his Egg case, and left the VIP Box along with Jasmine, just as Ash returned to the VIP Box, asking his Elites where his Leader went, only for Rosaline to reply they haven't seen her since they left her behind to take care of a Shinx and a Vulpix that were following them.

* * *

Jasmine sighed, as she sat near the edge of the lake. She had lost her battle to Lance, and she came to the forest to give herself some time to think and reflect. How was she supposed to know Lance could also Mega Evolve his Pokémon too?

She heard footsteps, and looked up, only to find Pakura standing there holding a basket full of various Berries.

"Hey, Pakura." Jasmine greeted her.

Pakura nodded. "How did the battle go?"

"Lost." Jasmine shrugged. "Expected it actually, but who knew Lance himself can Mega Evolve his Pokémon? So what happened to the Vulpix and the Shinx?"

As answer, Pakura held up two Pokéballs, indicating she caught them. "Didn't expect them to know Baby-Doll Eyes." She remarked, causing Jasmine to giggle. "Anyway, you seem to have some other trouble, and I'm sure it's not losing to Lance. So spill."

Jasmine didn't know what it was, but she suddenly found herself actually telling Pakura about her love life. She didn't really want to, but it started spilling out, just like Pakura told her to. Luckily for Jasmine, everyone was still watching the current match between Grimsley and Phoebe. She told Pakura all about how and why she liked Phillip in that way, but Phillip doesn't seem to notice her, and only treated her as an acquaintance. What is more, he seemed to think no one would like him for who he is due to his lack of social skills, and told her how she wished she could prove him wrong, as she thought of it as cute.

Pakura was surprisingly a good listener, staying quiet while Jasmine talked, and Jasmine finally concluded with "I guess he'd never want someone like me."

"What do you mean, he'd never want someone like you?" Pakura frowned. "What's wrong with you?"

"First of all, he's an Elite Four member, and not just any Elite Four, he's a member of the PAL Elite Four, and he's ranked 2nd, just behind you. And Phillip's a genius in all aspects, not to mention he can use aura. What would he want with a girl like me?"

"One thing you are not, Jasmine, is unintelligent. If you want Phillip, you must let him know it. Never keep your feelings to yourself, out of shyness, or worse, pride. Faint heart never won fair lady."

Jasmine nodded, as she knew Pakura was right.

"Anyway, you might want to start by sending him notes. Phillip likes receiving sincere notes, you know. Prove to him someone out there likes him for who he is. Let's stop at Dion's Deli."

"What's Dion's Deli?" Jasmine asked.

"It's a shop that is a cross between a convenience store and a bookshop. They are bound to sell some cards there." Pakura got up, throwing her Pokéball, revealing Gardevoir. She passed her Berries basket to Gardevoir, and told her to send it to her Secret Base. Gardevoir nodded, and teleported away.

"Come on, let's go. Sooner we do this, the better. Don't want Phillip to be taken by someone else, do we? He may not look it, but he's fairly popular with the girls."

Jasmine nodded, and followed after Pakura.

* * *

"Where did Lance get a Key Stone and a Mega Stone?" Cynthia asked his Elites.

"Did any of you give him one? I'm pretty sure all of them are stored in the gym, and only we can access it." Jude wondered.

"No, I didn't give Lance a Key Stone or a Mega Stone, that's for sure." Rosaline said, but thinking she should give Grimsley a Key Stone and a Mega Stone for himself and his Pokémon.

"Neither did I." Ash added.

"Why would I give a Key Stone or a Mega Stone to someone I'm not close to?" Phillip added.

"How about Pakura? Maybe she did it?" Grimsley suggested.

"Please, both of them hate each other." Ash said dismissively. "Phillip, your match is starting. Good luck."

Phillip nodded, and walked out of the VIP Box. He spotted Lance walking past him on the way back to the VIP Box.

"Wait one minute." Phillip stopped Lance, who turned to look at him.

"What is it?" Lance asked.

"Where did you get a Key Stone and a Mega Stone? They're placed at our gym, and only we can access those items." Phillip said, suspicion lacing his voice.

Lance gulped, as he knew he was cornered. If he told the truth, Phillip would want to know where the Dragon Princess is, and if Pakura was right, they would most likely take her away for interrogation, or worse, eliminate her.

"One of your Elites gave it to me." Lance lied.

"Really? Which one?" Phillip raised his eyebrows.

Lance weighed his options. He knew that the name was important, as Phillip can verify just by asking, and if he said the wrong person, his lie would be exposed and the Dragon Princess may be put in danger of being placed in the spotlight once more, and not in a good way. Who he knew would not expose him? He sighed when only one person came to his mind, and that was Pakura.

"It's Pakura." Lance said, knowing she was the best option.

Phillip glared at him. "You stay right here." He ordered, as he activated his CommuniDex to send a message to his Leader. Lance prayed to Arceus that Pakura would help him lie one more time, although he doesn't have much hope since they hated each other.

Phillip's CommuniDex beeped, indicating a message, and Phillip opened to check. He looked up to Lance, and sighed.

"I wonder where Pakura got this funny idea to give you a Key Stone and a Mega Stone from. True, she did say she wants a good fight from her opponents, but what gave her the idea she would be up against you in the tournament is beyond me." Phillip muttered.

Lance inwardly sighed in relief. This meant that Pakura had lied for him.

"Anyway, got to go for my match, later." Phillip nodded to him, and left for the stairs that led to the Launch Room.

* * *

"Found what you want?" Pakura asked Jasmine. They were looking at a rack of greeting cards at Dion's Deli.

"Well….not exactly." Jasmine replied. "I want a card that is blank inside, with a picture on the front that is sophisticated but not too sexy. You said Phillip liked the sophisticated type, right?"

"He prefers girls who smile as well. So my advice is always smile in front of him." Pakura added.

"The only blank cards that do not have drawings of cute Pokémon on them are photos of fruit being dipped in chocolate sauce." Jasmine sighed.

"Good. Phillip likes chocolate after all. What about this one?" Pakura picked out a card with strawberry that has chocolate sauce dripping off it. "He does like strawberry, especially when dipped in chocolate fondue."

"Alright…." Jasmine said, though she thought the picture was sexier than she'd have liked.

After buying the card for Jasmine, Pakura said, "Now the next step is to write what you want inside. I suggest a poem-like message, Phillip likes poems after all." She remembered that before she erased his memories, both she and her former best friend Phillip liked to go to the Coffee Pot together, where they hold regular poetry readings.

"Well….can you print…" Jasmine whispered it in Pakura's ear.

Pakura nodded. "Of course. I'll even pass it to Phillip for you."

Jasmine smiled. "Thanks. You've been a great help."

"Now go back to watch Phillip's match, you have to support your future boyfriend." Pakura said. "Meanwhile, it's the print shop for me."

* * *

"Froslass is unable to battle. Raichu wins. Elite Glacia, please send out your last Pokémon."

"Abomasnow, I choose you!" Glacia sent out the Frost Tree Pokémon. As soon as Abomasnow appeared in the battlefield, a brief blizzard occurred, covering the grass field with snow.

"Huh, it looks like her Abomasnow's Ability is Snow Warning." Ash commented.

"Indeed. I wonder what Phillip would do?" Cynthia replied.

"Raichu, return for now!" He returned Raichu back to her Pokéball. 'Hmm, should I send out Empoleon again, or a new Pokémon? I never really seen an Abomasnow in battle because Pakura doesn't own one. Oh well.'

"**Phillip, will you use me for this one?" **Emolga asked. Dedenne blinked up at Phillip for his answer.

"Not today, Emolga. I'll use you next time." Phillip replied, petting Emolga on the head, at the same time taking out another Pokéball.

"**Alright." ** Emolga nodded, though she sounded a little disappointed.

"Metagross, I need your help!" He sent out his Iron Leg Pokémon.

"Now…Mega Evolution, commence!" Metagross' Mega Stone was reacting to Phillip's Mega Stickpin, and Metagross Mega Evolved into Mega Metagross.

This Mega Evolution interested a certain Steel-type Champion, namely Steven Stone, as he never knew until now that his main Pokémon, Metagross had the potential to Mega Evolve. He wondered if he should ask one of them for a Key Stone and a Mega Stone for his Metagross.

Just then, the door opened, and Jasmine came in, looking happier.

"What did I miss?" Jasmine asked, sitting at the front row with the PAL Elites.

"Phillip took down Glacia's Beartic with his Empoleon in the first round, and her Froslass with his Raichu. Her fatal mistake was to use Attract, as Phillip's Raichu is female." Ash explained to Jasmine. "They are now beginning Round 3."

Glacia wondered how she could counter Phillip's ability to command Pokémon without saying anything and what she should do about it.

"Both Trainers ready?" Glacia and Phillip nodded. "Alright then, battle begin!"

"You may have the first move." Phillip offered.

Glacia smiled. "Wrong move. Abomasnow, Earthquake!"

'Ground-type moves are super effective. Clever, but…..' Phillip thought. 'Metagross, Magnet Rise!' Mega Metagross' body became surrounded in yellow and it rose off the ground, effectively avoiding Earthquake.

'Now, Gyro Ball!' Phillip inwardly commanded. Mega Metagross slammed into Abomasnow, sending it skidding backwards.

"Shadow Ball!" Glacia countered. Mega Metagross was hit by Shadow Ball, but it simply shook its head and got back to battle stance.

'Flash Cannon!' Phillip countered mentally, and Mega Metagross shot a powerful one at Abomasnow.

"Dodge, and use Bulldoze."

'Use Magnet Rise one more time, and counter with Sludge Bomb!' Phillip nodded to his Pokémon. Mega Metagross managed to avoid the Ground-type move by using Magnet Rise, and from where it was floating, it shot a Sludge Bomb with Abomasnow. Luckily for Phillip, the Sludge Bomb managed to poison Abomasnow.

"Abomasnow, Grass Whistle!" Glacia commanded. Despite the poison spreading, it managed to use the move, causing Mega Metagross to fall asleep, deactivating Magnet Rise.

'Metagross, Sleep Talk, hurry!' Sleep Talk turned out to be Psychic, and while sleeping Mega Metagross threw Abomasnow against the wall. Abomosnow got up, glowing purple, signifying the poison status. At the same time, Mega Metagross woke up.

"No way…" Glacia gasped. "How did it wake up so fast?"

Phillip smiled. "When a Pokémon is affectionate with a Trainer, a Pokémon would do anything to show their best side to their Trainer, including fighting off status conditions. In this case, my Metagross shook itself awake so I wouldn't worry about it. Isn't it right, Metagross?"

"**That's right, Phillip." **Metagross replied happily.

"Amazing…the friendship between the PAL Elites and their Pokémon is so deep…no wonder they stand out among us, and you can command without saying anything." Glacia muttered. "But, I'm not giving up just yet! Finish it with Sheer Cold!"

'Use Psychic one more time to send it back!' Phillip thought, and Mega Mategross obeyed. Phillip told Mega Metagross to use Aerial Ace, which finished off Abomasnow.

"Abomasnow is unable to battle! Mega Metagross wins! Which means, the winner is Elite Phillip!" Evan announced.

"Alright, Phillip won!" Rosaline cheered.

"Well, Phillip did have a huge advantage even without his mental command when he sent out Metagross. After all, Abomasnow has like, 7 weaknesses, since it's Ice/Grass?" Jude tried to remember.

"Yeah, it's seven. Fighting, Flying, Poison, Rock, Bug, Steel and a double weakness to Fire." Ash ticked them off. "It has a Mega Stone as well, but when used, its Speed is cut in half, which could be risky. And speaking of Ice Pokémon, where is our Ice Master? Her match is next, and she is nowhere to be seen."

"Well, last we saw her, we left her behind to deal with a Shinx and a Vulpix that followed her." Grimsley shrugged.

"You what?" Ash was incredulous.

"Well, Phillip and I tried to get them, but they dodged to her arms. Seems to me they like her very much."

"I can understand the Vulpix, but why the Shinx?" Ash wondered. "And what is taking her so long to deal with them."

"Oh, no, she already dealt with them, she told me just now. I saw her when I was out." Jasmine interrupted.

"Really? What did she do to them?" Cynthia asked.

"Caught them, if the Pokéballs she showed me was any indication." Jasmine answered.

"They must have used a move against her like the Eevee." Ash remarked.

"She did. Said something about them using a move called Baby-Doll Eyes?"

Much to Jasmine, Cynthia and Grimslsy's confusion, the PAL Elites and their Pokémon started laughing.

"What?" Cynthia asked them.

"You see, Baby-Doll Eyes is a Fairy-type move where the Pokémon stares at the target with its baby-doll eyes, which makes the target infatuated with the user, which would normally soften the target's Attack, but in this case, it's to make Pakura catch them. Looks like it worked, especially since they looked like younglings." Ash explained, just as the door opened, and Phillip entered with his Emolga.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Ash asked.

"Oh, Pakura passed me a card, saying it's from a secret admirer. I had to go to my own special area and place it there."

Ash knew that Phillip was referring to the Secret Bases that each Elite had, a special getaway place that they go to relax and hide from the fans and press if necessary. Ash's own Secret Base is located at a bush hidden deep among the grasses and trees in the forest, which made a perfect place to hide out in and he designed it in such a way that it resembles a typical bedroom with a computer and TV with a bookcase filled with books. That was where he usually reviewed his notes and do his paperwork and studies when he's outside his Elite Mansion.

"How do you know it isn't one of your fan girls?" Jude frowned, and Jasmine inwardly gulped.

"One, if Pakura says so, it must be true. Two, why would she lie for fan girls?" Phillip answered. "And that message was a poem. I do like poems, even if it was a very short one."

"Well, if Paku was the one who gave you the card, it must mean she is in the Battle Arena." Ash shrugged, as he sat back on his seat. "I wonder who your secret admirer is."

"Beats me. But I'm sure I'll figure out in time."

Jasmine sighed in relief, as that meant Pakura didn't tell Phillip.

Just then, Ken started to announce the next match. "The match between Leader Clair and Elite Pakura would now commence in the neutral battlefield. Now, would Leader Clair be able to overcome the Dragon Slayer's team, or would she fall like Leader Drayden? Let's watch and find out." At the last comment, both trainers were launched into the battlefield, Pakura with her usual three Pokémon out with her.

"Don't think you'll get this easy, Pakura. I'm the world's best Dragon-type master." Clair grinned at her.

"If that is true, why are you a Gym Leader, and not at least a member of the Elite?" Pakura said, bored. That witty remark earned laughter from the audience.

"I'm very sure I'm the strongest female Dragon user here." Clair was ticked off at Pakura's remark.

"That's because you're the only female Dragon user competing in this tournament." Pakura snorted.

* * *

"That's got to burn." Jude said, as he and his group were laughing themselves silly, along with the other people sitting in the VIP Box. Even Lance was trying to hide his laughter.

"Is it true, though?" Cynthia asked. She didn't really take note of the Dragon users, since her region didn't have one.

"Unfortunately, that is true." Phillip consulted his notebook containing the names of the competitors in the tournament, and their type specialty (if any). The ones who are eliminated had been crossed out. "The ones who are Dragon users in the tournament are Drayden, Drake, Lance and Clair. Clair is the only female among the four. The Dragon Princess doesn't count because she's not in the tournament." He pointed out the four names, including Drayden's name which had been crossed out.

"But even if the Dragon Princess is competing, she'll probably take the title of the strongest female Dragon user, not Clair." Ash said, looking over to see the notebook. "I mean, she was good enough to be crowned ruler of PAL, even if she only had the crown for a short three years."

"And according to the picture of them being crowned, she was only in her early teens at best." Rosaline added. "Clair is probably in her early twenties at least."

"Seems to me that the Dragon Princess is some sort of prodigy. If only she hadn't used it for destruction, I think she'd be an asset to helping us run the region." Ash sighed.

* * *

"I'm the member of the Clan with a long history of Dragon Pokémon." Clair folded her arms. "I've been training them all my life."

"Your appearance says otherwise. Your cape is on backwards." Pakura remarked. Clair checked, and much to her embarrassment, it was. At the VIP Box, Lance was laughing to himself.

"But if you want to prove me wrong, do it right now then." Pakura took out a Pokéball.

"Very well." Clair said, as she took out her own Pokéball.

"Alright, Trainers, please send out your Pokémon."

"Druddigon, I choose you, go!" Clair sent out the alternately coloured Druddigon she caught back in Unova.

"Let's go, Altaria!" Pakura sent out the Humming Pokémon. Clair noted she was wearing a Mega Stone.

"A Dragon-type? We can handle this." Clair nodded.

"I won't say the same thing. Altaria, let's show them the power of our bond." At these words, Altaria's Mega Stone on her neck reacted to Pakura's Mega Charm, and Altaria Mega Evolved to Mega Altaria.

"Trainers ready?" Both Clair and Pakura nodded. "Alright, battle begin!"

"You may have the first move." Pakura said to Clair.

"Then, I won't hold back. Druddigon, start things with Hone Claws!"

Mega Altaria turned to look at Pakura, and both nodded, seemingly understanding each other's thoughts, and Mega Altaria dodged the Hone Claws, reappearing behind Druddigon.

"Druddigon, behind you! Use Flash Cannon!"

Pakura simply nodded to Mega Altaria once more and once again, Mega Altaria dodged the attack. No matter which direction Druddigon attacked from, Altaria simply dodged all of them.

"Wow that Mega Altaria is fast." Lance muttered, watching Pakura's Mega Altaria dodging all of Druddigon's attacks with ease.

"I can't catch Mega Altaria like this." Clair muttered "Then….Druddigon, Draco Meteor!" Druddigon obeyed, and a sphere of bright orange energy formed inside of Druddigon's mouth and was fired into the sky, where it exploded and released several spheres of energy that rained down on Mega Altaria. Clair thought she got Mega Altaria because she didn't hear Pakura give a command to Mega Altaria to counter Draco Meteor. She was wrong, however. When Draco Meteor ended, Mega Altaria was standing in the middle of the wreckage unharmed.

"How can this be?" Clair was surprised.

"When Altaria Mega Evolves, it becomes a Dragon/Fairy. And you know that Dragon-type moves have no effect on Fairy types." Pakura explained. "Surely as a Dragon user, you should know. Now, it's my turn."

"Get ready, Druddigon. She might call out a Fairy-type move." Clair said warily.

Just then, Mega Altaria started to fire an Ice Beam at Druddigon.

"Druddigon, quickly, Flamethrower!" The Flamethrower and Ice Beam clashed, and Ice Beam started to freeze Flamethrower.

"Oh, no! I forgot!" Clair suddenly remembered that Pakura's Pokémon's Ice Beam can freeze Fire-type moves. "Druddigon, Shadow Claw!"

'Altaria, Steel Wing.' Pakura mentally commanded Mega Altaria.

Both Shadow Claw and Steel Wing clashed, and Clair wondered how Mega Altaria can attack without Pakura saying anything, just like Phillip.

* * *

"**Is Pakura doing what I think she's doing?"** Pikachu asked.

"**Yeah. She's definitely not going easy on Clair."** Lucario said grimly.

"I kind of expected it, actually." Ash said quietly.

"**Really? Why?" **Lucario asked curiously.

_Ash was sitting in front of the TV watching the recaps of who are the Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions of each region, which were in the crowd favourite of winning the tournament. _

"_What are you watching?" Pakura asked Ash, joining him in the couch. _

"_Just seeing who our stronger competition would be." Ash shrugged. "Apparently, if they are placed high in the tournament, they would bring fame and glory to their hometowns." _

_Pakura watched the television screen with little interest as they announced the Kanto Gym Leaders, and their hometowns. She zoned out for a moment as she watched the Nature Loving Princess, Erika, giving a few words about her participation, and her desire to explore the region because according to media, PAL was a nature-rich and beautiful region. _

"_Which ones do you want?" Ash suddenly muttered from her side, snapping Pakura out of her reverie. Pakura shifted her gaze towards the television screen again, only to see they are announcing the Johto Gym Leaders. _

"_What are you talking about?" Pakura yawned. _

"_I mean, which one of these do you want to kick out?" Ash said. "You're bound to have a grudge against some of the competitors in the past." _

"_And how would you know?" Pakura raised her eyebrows. _

"_Can see it in your eyes. Besides, you're the one who took me in, so I gained some of your personality streaks. Not that I mind, though." Ash replied. _

"_Taught you well." Pakura muttered, directing her gaze back to the television, only to see Pryce, Leader of Mahogany Gym giving a few words about how he hoped that the young talents would give him a good fight. _

"_Well, if you don't have a grudge, how about them?" Ash joked, pointing to the TV, where they announced Clair, Leader of the Blackthorn Gym. She was seen on TV along with Lance, her cousin, as both were from the same hometown. "Those two are great Dragon Masters, and you're a Dragon Slayer. It'd be interesting to see you fight them out." _

_Pakura stayed silent for a long time, before finally saying, "Them." in a definite tone. She narrowed her eyes into a dreadful glare. "They're mine." _

"**You what?" **Lucario said.

"She seemed to hate those two very much at that time, and I don't know why. Was it because she wants to crush them being Dragon users, or was it something else?" Ash wondered. "Either way, Clair is at a huge disadvantage here." He looked down, only to see Mega Altaria firing a Fury Attack on Druddigon, only that Mega Altaria's beak was glowing pink when she repeatedly pecked Druddigon.

"Druddigon! Are you ok?" Clair asked, concerned. Druddigon nodded, as it got up.

Clair smiled at her Pokémon, but…"But how was Fury Attack super effective?"

"Mega Altaria's Ability is Pixilate. Pixilate turns Normal-type moves into Fairy-type moves." Pakura explained. 'What did the Elders teach them anyway?'

"Druddigon, use Dig, and use Rock Tomb!" Druddigon burrowed itself in the hole, and even sealed the hole with Rock Tomb so Mega Altaria couldn't fire an attack inside.

Unfortunately, Pakura could pin point Druddigon's position via her aura. She gave a look to Mega Altaria, who floated over to a certain spot and used Earthquake to force Druddigon to come out. When the ground was destroyed, Mega Altaria's foot landed on Druddigon's head, indicating Druddigon was directly below Mega Altaria when the attack occurred.

'The problem is I can't tell what Mega Altaria's next move would be because she doesn't say her commands out loud. How is this even possible, commanding without saying anything?' Clair thought.

'Now use Draco Meteor, and before Draco Meteor explodes, fire a Moonblast in it.' Pakura thought. Mega Altaria obeyed, and fired a Draco Meteor.

"She's using Draco Meteor! Druddigon, destroy them with Flash Cannon!" However, at the last second Mega Altaria fired a Moonblast at the Draco Meteor before it exploded, and when it did, spheres or orange and pink were raining down onto the battlefield.

As Druddigon used it to destroy Draco Metoer, the pink spheres of energy streaked down towards Druddigon, which hit Druddigon painfully, causing him to stop firing Flash Cannon, and thus being damaged by Draco Meteor and Moonblast.

'Dragon Rush, go. Finish it' Pakura nodded to Mega Altaria. The Dragon Rush sent Druddigon flying against the wall, and Druddigon slid down the wall with swirls in its eyes.

"Druddigon is unable to battle! Leader Clair, please send out your next Pokémon!" Evan said.

"Pink? But Draco Meteor isn't pink…" Clair muttered. She was still shocked over the fact that she saw a pink Draco Meteor.

"It isn't. I fired a Moonblast into the Draco Meteor right before it exploded, so it would split into smaller spheres and rain down along with Draco Meteor. You should've aimed Flash Cannon at Moonblast as Steel is super-effective against Fairy. But in this case, even if you focused your Flash Cannon to the Moonblast, Draco Meteor is super effective against your Druddigon anyway." Pakura shook her head.

'I hate to admit it, but the way she pulled off this move was extremely clever, and even managed to corner Clair. Clair's Pokémon couldn't even land a hit on Mega Altaria, and that Pokémon looked like it hardly battled.' Lance thought. 'Not to mention, like Phillip, she didn't even need to say her commands out loud, which gives her a huge advantage, in addition to the type match-up.'

"Clair would lose at this rate." Drake said to Drayden.

"Definitely. It looks like Clair would lose this match. Pakura's very strong." Drayden replied. He knew because he had first-hand experience, and Pakura didn't bother with the non-verbal commands. He watched as Clair sent out her Kingdra as her next Pokémon.

* * *

"Dragonite, Hyper Beam!" Clair commanded. She was down to her last Pokémon while Pakura still had her Mega Altaria out.

'Altaria, Disarming Voice.' Pakura countered mentally. Mega Altaria nodded and fired Disarming Voice to counter Hyper Beam. She managed to slow down, but not stop Hyper Beam, and at the last second, Pakura nodded, and Altaria dodged to one side. Dragonite had to recharge due to the power and energy put in for this move.

'Get in close range and use Moonblast.' Pakura told Mega Altaria, and when she did, she fired a close-range Moonblast, which sent Dragonite flying.

"Dragonite, straight up and use Ice Beam!" Clair commanded.

'Now, use Dragon Rush, and follow it with Giga Impact.' Mega Altaria flew after Dragonite, and before Dragonite could even fire an Ice Beam, Mega Altaria slammed into him with Dragon Rush. As Dragonite fell, Mega Altaria slammed into Dragonite with Giga Impact, and flew back to Pakura's side.

Dragonite struggled for a moment to get up, before falling to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Dragonite in unable to battle! Mega Altaria wins! Which means, the winner is Elite Pakura!" Evan announced, to cheers.

* * *

"That was brutal! Did you see how Pakura didn't give Dragonite a chance to recover from the previous attack?" Phoebe gasped.

"Yeah, she really is giving no mercy to Clair for some reason." Brawly was gaping at the scene.

"Did she have a grudge against Clair or something?" Marshal wondered.

"Nah, how could it be, they don't know each other until this tournament. If not, Clair would have said something." Lorelei answered.

"And she hasn't even gone all out yet." Jude remarked, sighing when he heard the comments.

"Yeah, she can already do a lot of damage with type disadvantage, and her having the type advantage is like signing a death warrant." Rosaline trembled slightly at the thought of that horrible loss despite having a type advantage. Heck, she had a type advantage against her Fairy Pokémon too, but that wouldn't do much in a battle either. At least Ash had the sense of stopping when he knew the opposing Pokémon can't take any more attacks. Pakura? Not so much.

'Well, the way things are, Clair better be grateful Paku didn't do enough damage to be sent to the Emergency Ward. Luckily I made her promise.' Ash thought, shuddering at the number of Pokémon that may be sent there if he didn't make her promise. 'The thing is, when Paku battle someone any of us do not like, sometimes, she likes to send them to the hospital to deal mental damage to trainers itself.'

But the question is, why doesn't Pakura like Clair? He was sure she'd have mentioned it if she had a grudge against her when Ash was telling her about all his adventures.

* * *

"And another spectacular battle between Elite Jude and Elite Lucian has come to an end!" Ken announced. Jude had his Bisharp out while Lucian was returning his fallen Mr. Mime, wondering how Jude can command his Pokémon without saying anything just like Pakura and Phillip.

At the scoreboard, a Pokéball next to Jude indicated he still could send out a third Pokémon, but didn't. In fact, he wouldn't have done it at all if Lucian hadn't sent out his Espeon as one of the Pokémon. He sent out his Vaporeon for an Eeveelution battle, which Jude won with a combination of Attract (his Vaporeon was female, like Umbreon) and Signal Beam.

"Time for a getaway." Ash muttered. It was lunch, and this time, Cynthia decided to spend it eat with her Sinnoh Elites, and Ash figured he could have do with some alone time, which was why he rejected having lunch with his Elites (except Pakura, because she disappeared after her match). He bought a bento set from a Japanese restaurant, got a can of drink from the vending machine and headed towards his secret spot, which is located in a tree.

"**Going for the secret base, Ash?" **Pikachu asked.

"Yeah, time for a getaway. According to Paku, regional reporters are now going around their region looking for a good story to report. Their main targets are the PAL Elites, especially him and Pakura herself. He reached his secret spot, and smiling, he moved the long grasses aside, revealing what looked like a normal bush, but he pushed aside some specific leaves to reveal a secret entrance. He entered with Pikachu and Lucario, before sealing the entrance, and walked down the cool but dark passageway to his base.

His secret base contained a bookshelf with the books all stored in order. It also contained a huge desk with a laptop plugged at the mahogany desk. The chair has rollers and the cushioning is soft. He also has his own TV plugged in with a black couch in front of it. There was also a pantry where he stored snacks and cans of drinks. A dark blue table in the middle had a few electric blue chairs around it, and another brown table contained the doll set he had won at a festival when he visited the Unova region with Jude (though in disguise).

Ash sat down at the chair, and turned on the computer. He opened his bento and started eating, while typing at some words.

'I wonder if those notes were part of a quote.' Ash thought, chewing on his croquettes. As soon as the search result popped out, Ash spat his food, coughing as he choked.

"**What is it, Ash?" **Pikachu and Lucario scampered over to him.

Ash pointed to the search result, as he continued eating his bento. "The notes the Dragon Princes sent us: It's all part of a quote."

"**The loneliest people are the kindest. The saddest people smile the brightest. The most damaged people are the wisest." **Lucario read out. **"Who is the first person that comes to your mind?" **

Ash sighed, but answered. "Paku. But she doesn't fit the second sentence."

"**Maybe each sentence is referring to one person." **Pikachu pointed out.

"Second one probably refers to me, but Paku fits the rest of the sentences. If the Dragon Princess is describing herself in one of these sentences, then the Dragon Princess is Paku. But she'll never do anything to harm me, so the Dragon Princess can't be her."

"**I have to agree. I mean, she was the one who took you in when you are at your worst." **Lucario said. **"Even showed you around the region, and recommended the Hunter Exam for you." **

"Besides, she always gives me a good battle." Ash smiled, thinking about the time he battled her in the Elite challenge, as he finished his bento, and opened the can of drink. "And she is a good listener." He shut down his computer. "At least we are one step closer now. I never thought I'd thank myself for being bored." Just then, he saw a notification, which he clicked, and led him to a website where it says that the announcer is going to update them about the Top 16.

Ash hastily flopped onto the couch, and turned on the TV. Sure enough, the announcer sat in front of a desk, paper ready.

"Hello! It's time for Pokémon Fanatics, your source for the hottest news about anything and everything! Now today, we are finally down to the last sixteen players, where they would fight it out on a six-on-six, and from Top 16, the battlefield would be a neutral one! Let's see who had made it to the final sixteen!"

Here, the camera zoomed in to a board, and the faces of the remaining 16 trainers were shown on the board. Ash noted that Gary and Paul made it to the top 16, a miraculous achievement as most trainers can only make it to the top 32 at best. And besides his four Elites, the others who made it were Cynthia, Lance, Steven, Wallace, Grimsley, Drake, Volkner, Sabrina, and to his surprise, Salon Maiden Anabel.

He had completely forgotten about the Frontier Brains, since they were not allowed to sit in the VIP Box, and never had rooms in the Tower. And he had never watched the matches beyond lunch, and also, there were too many people to keep track, so he just kept track of his own matches! How could he be so stupid as to assume the Frontier Brains won't be competing! Even when he watched the announcement of the players making it to the next round, he just blankly watched his own friends' pictures, forgetting about the rest! His Elites must have assumed he had known, which made him feel foolish.

"**I completely forgotten about the Frontier Brains. And looks like Anabel is in." **Pikachu commented. He too, never bothered to look at the board, only keeping track of his own.

The pictures flipped, showing the Pokéball symbol at the back of the cards, before they randomly shuffled. Much to his surprise, he was up against Paul, Phillip would be fighting Gary, Cynthia would be up against Drake, Pakura would be against Grimsley (He grimaced at the fact that Pakura had a huge advantage against Grimsley), Rosaline would be battling Steven, and finally, Jude would battle Lance. Also, Anabel is against Sabrina, which would make a good psychic against psychic battle, and Volkner is up against Wallace.

Just then, his CommuniDex rang. He opened it to see a worried Rosaline.

"What is it, Rosaline?" Ash asked.

"Ash, you've got to come back to the Tower immediately!" Rosaline sounded panicked.

"Why? What happened?" Ash asked.

"It's Clair. Someone pushed her down the stairs. There's a note next to her."

"Got it! I'm on my way!" Ash turned off the CommuniDex, and said to Pikachu and Lucario, "We'll teleport there. Grab my hands!" As soon as they grabbed his hands, the room spun around them, and they suddenly found themselves outside the Tower. He rushed into the Lobby, where Clair was sitting, groaning in agony, and Lance was reading a note with a frown.

"What's going on?" He rushed to Phillip, who was nearest.

"Apparently, Clair was walking down the staircase at the Tower, when she felt a force at the back of her head, she then lost her balance, and was going to land head first at the first landing, but fortunately, she managed to cushion that fall with her hand, but she broke her hand in the process. Unfortunately, the momentum of the fall caused her to continue falling, until she hit the bottom, and her leg landed on the ground, and she inadvertently crushed her own leg when she landed on it moments later. Lance heard the fall as he was visiting his Kanto friends on the floor below where she resides, and went to check, and he carried her down here." Phillip explained. "We already called the ambulance for her."

"Did you see who it was?" Ash asked.

"No, we checked the surveillance, and it showed nothing, except for the landing between the ninth and tenth floor, but it was all black." Phillip explained. "I went to check that particular camera, and it was coated in mascara."

"I see. Did you see the footage before it went black?" Ash was thoughtful.

"Yeah, early in the morning, Pakura was walking down the stairs fiddling with her mascara, and when she thought she couldn't get the mascara out, she threw it against the ceiling out of frustration, and the container burst, and the mascara accidentally coated the surveillance camera on that floor."

"What makes you think it was an accident?" Rosaline looked at Phillip funnily.

"That's because she wasn't even looking at the surveillance the whole time." Phillip replied.

'Wait a minute, I know from training with her that Paku can hit targets without even looking at them. I wonder if she did it on purpose. No, it couldn't be, Paku would never endanger us. Maybe it's an accident after all. But why would she be using mascara? I thought Paku doesn't use mascara….or any makeup for the matter. And also, if Clair didn't see her attacker, it's most likely the person used telekinesis.' Ash thought. He turned to Lance. "What does the note say?"

"It says, 'You need to be taught a lesson on how to be appreciative of what you have. If you don't, I might just kill you next time.'"

"_**Do you think it's the Dragon Princess?" **_Phillip asked in Latin, which only Ash understood.

"_**No doubt about it." **_Ash replied. _**"It won't be very difficult to pull this stunt if you can use telekinesis from a far distance and only one person besides Rosaline and myself knows how to use telekinesis. And we all know who it is." **_Ash wondered what grudge she had against Clair, as she herself is a Dragon user.

Lance and Clair were looking at them, not understanding a word.

"What are you guys saying?" Clair asked.

"I was just asking where Paku is, since Phillip contacted her." Ash lied smoothly. "Forgive me, but we tend to speak another language when we are extremely worried. Where is she anyway?" Ash asked the other two.

"Don't know. We can't reach her." Rosaline shrugged.

"Besides, we all know what she would say." Jude said.

"**Yeah, she'd probably say something like, it's just a broken hand and a leg. It's not as if you are dying."** Ash's Pikachu replied.

"Hey, you can't blame her. She has extremely high pain endurance, better than all of us, in fact." Ash replied, as the ambulance arrived, and they proceeded to help Clair into the vehicle.

'I wonder what Ash's Pikachu said for Ash to reply like that.' Lance thought. 'And what is it about Pakura having high pain endurance.'

* * *

"Never seen you eat lunch with us anymore, Grimsley, ever since you started courting Rosaline." Marshal remarked. "What changed?"

Grimsley smiled. "I just figured it'd be a good idea to spend time to eat and chat with you all." In actuality, when Cynthia announced her intention to eat lunch with her Sinnoh Elites, he realized he had been spending so much time with Rosaline and the others (he even stopped sitting with his Unova Elites when he dated Rosaline) he had forgotten to spend time with his friends, and the tournament may be the only free time they have from their duties before it's back to Unova with the paperwork and the accepting of challengers when they win a Conference after getting the required 8 Badges. "So what do you think of our stay so far?"

"It's amazing. The battles happening in the tournament gives me so much inspiration for a new book." Shauntal exclaimed.

"I'm enjoying my stay too." Caitlin said. "I may have lost to Cynthia in the match, but I have learnt lots of things. Also, I wish to train my psychic powers with Rosaline or even better, the Dragon Duo."

"Why the Dragon Duo?" Marshal asked. "They are the strongest Dragon users, not psychic users."

"No, Marshal, they are strong psychics too. I heard Phillip mention that the Dragon Duo is stronger than Rosaline in terms of psychic power." Caitlin replied.

"What makes you think they are even alive? They vanished like five years ago." Shauntal said.

"I have a feeling at least one is alive." Caitlin said confidently. "The fact that I can't detect them makes this even more exciting."

Grimsley nodded. "Well, I guess it won't hurt to tell you, but…" Just then, the elevator dinged, and the receptionist from the front desk at the lobby came in.

"Excuse me, is Elite Grimsley here?" The receptionist asked.

"That's me." Grimsley said, standing up. "What is it?"

"There's a delivery for you. Would you follow me?" The receptionist replied.

Grimsley nodded, and followed her down the elevator to the lobby, where Tenma was waiting with a package.

"Here, this is for you." Tenma held a package that was wrapped in brown paper.

"Is there any note as to who it came from?" Grimsley asked.

"No note, as far as we know." Tenma shrugged. "Sorry it was late. We had to inspect it for any bombs or weapons or something dangerous. Would you sign here please?" He thrust a piece of paper at Grimsley.

Grimsley nodded, and signed at the part Tenma indicated.

"If I were you, I won't take the stairs."

"Why not?" Grimsley asked.

"Do you know Leader Clair?" Tenma enquired.

Grimsley nodded. He knew she was the Blackthorn City Gym Leader in Johto. "Yeah, what about her?"

"Well, she was taken to the hospital from here ten minutes before you came down someone pushed her down the stairs, and she injured her hand and leg. The PAL Elites are investigating and problem is there is no surveillance because Princess Pakura accidentally coated the lens with her mascara early in the morning." Tenma explained

"I see. But who would do such a thing?" Grimsley asked.

"Beats me. Well, I got to go. I got another delivery to make. See ya."

Grimsley nodded and waved, before taking the package and going back up his floor.

"What did the receptionist want, Grimsley?" Shauntal asked.

"We'll know soon enough." Grimsley replied. He set the package down, and unwrapped it. He widened his eyes when he realized what it was.

"It's a Pokémon Egg." Shauntal said in awe, watching as Grimsley removed the Egg case from the box. The Egg was brown with a cream-colored zigzag stripe around its middle. "I wonder what would hatch from it."

"Who is kind enough to give you an Egg?" Marshal commented.

"Maybe Rosaline gave the Egg." Grimsley answered, smiling as he looked at the Egg. He couldn't wait to see what Pokémon would hatch from it.

Meanwhile, Caitlin was wondering what Grimsley wanted to say before he got cut off.

* * *

"So, how is your relationship with Red, Cynthia?" Bertha asked, as they ate lunch.

"It's great. He's good at organizing dates, and I got to know his friends better." Cynthia replied, taking the last bite of her fish.

Aaron snorted. "Yeah, you don't have to be a genius to know that Pakura's a violent, foul-mouthed bitch."

"Aaron! That's not nice at all." Lucian chided.

"What? It's true!" Aaron protested.

"But even so, she's the PAL's Princess. She can easily withdraw PAL's support from our region. Do you want that to happen?" Flint replied.

Aaron opened his mouth to answer when the elevator dinged, and Grimsley entered.

"Hey, Grimsley." Cynthia greeted, before she saw his grim expression. "What's wrong?" She asked, concerned.

"Cynthia, can we talk? Alone?" Grimsley requested.

"Sure." Cynthia stood up, and followed him. They got to the balcony that overlooked Luonto City.

"What happened?" Cynthia asked, and Grimsley told her everything about the incident involving Clair. When he was done, Cynthia had a look of sheer horror.

"Was it the Dragon Princess?" Cynthia whispered.

"Most likely." Grimsley nodded. "It looks like the Dragon Princess does have access to the Tower, or she can get in without being detected."

"Where's Ash?" Cynthia frantically asked. She needed to find him now.

To her disappointment, Grimsley shook his head, indicating he didn't know.

"I'll go find him!" Cynthia cried, and rushed back to the living room, towards the elevators.

* * *

'Well, who knew a fan's gift of some cheap mascara would be useful?' Pakura thought, walking briskly through Luonto City with her three Pokémon, 'And it isn't very difficult to push someone without them seeing when you know how to use telekinesis.'

Though her face and eyes didn't betray her emotions, Pakura was in a bad mood because she just caught a regional reporter searching through her dressing room (specifically, her underwear drawer) in the Contest Hall shortly after escaping from the Tower, and not only had she almost killed him (landing him in hospital wrapped in bandages like a mummy) she also made sure he'd never get a job again. How dare he violate her privacy like this!

"**Hopefully we don't see that reporter again." **Eevee remarked.

"**Yeah, and also let's pray Tenma doesn't tell Grimsley who delivered the Egg to him." **Skitty added.

Pakura made a non-committal noise at her throat, as she almost forgot she had asked Tenma to deliver the Eevee Egg to Grimsley before attacking Clair.

Unbeknownst to her, she was being followed the traitors (sans Trip and Cilan). May had her Venusaur out, ready to attack on cue.

Brock went up to her, and tapped Pakura on the shoulder. Pakura turned, and pointed her knife at his throat. Brock held up his hands in surrender.

"Whoa, whoa, put the knife down!" Brock said.

"So tell me what do you want?" Pakura asked coldly.

"Well…." While Brock was talking, May snuck behind Pakura with her Venusaur. When she got into range, she shouted, "Venusaur, Sleep Powder!" Venusaur released a sparkling blue powder out from the flower on its back, which engulfed Pakura and her Pokémon, and they fell to the ground, asleep. For good measure, they jabbed Pakura with sedatives they got from the pharmacy.

"Alright! We got her!" Max cheered, rushing into the scene with Iris.

"What should we do with her?" Iris asked, pointing to a sleeping Pakura.

Max examined Pakura. He may have just reached his pre-teen, but he still has hormones "Well, she does look like a good lay. Why not have some fun?"

Brock smirked, and nodded, and was about to reach his hands out to carry Pakura when a leg shot out, and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying and breaking four trees before finally hitting the ground, skidding a few meters before coming to a complete stop. Max was hit in the right arm, effectively shattering the bones. May and Iris froze halfway in grabbing the sleeping Eevee and Skitty, only to be mind-controlled, forcing them to drop the Pokémon. They did not even register that Pakura had knocked out Venusaur, and returned her to May's Pokémon, neither did they know that they were being frozen in an ice block, except for their heads, along with Max and Brock, who were unconscious.

They were knocked out with psychic powers when the three Pokémon woke up thanks to Awakening, and they left the scene.

'They really should know better than to use Sleep Powder and use sedatives, because thanks to the torture training I've been though, I'm immune to poison and moves such as Sleep Powder. And I'm also immune to drugs thanks to my Healing Regenerative Factor.'

She turned to her partner Pokémon, Sylveon. "Come on, Sylveon, let's go see your mate." With that, she rushed off to the forest, towards the Dragon Princess' cave, her three Pokémon dashing after her.

With her enhanced speed, it only took her a few minutes to get to the cave, and she went in without hesitation. The psychic defences doesn't work on her since she had mental shields. Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee went in after her, Sylveon excited to see her mate Espeon again.

"**Hello Pakura."** Espeon came out to meet her.

"**Espeon!"** Sylveon charged towards him, and pounced on him, licking his face. **"How I missed you!" **

"**Missed you too, Sylveon. How are you?"** Espeon intertwined his tail with one of Sylveon's feelers.

Pakura, meanwhile, was tapping away at one part of the cave walls. She finally found the loose part of the said wall, and what looked like the end of the cave opened to reveal a room filled with bright light. Pakura smiled to herself, and slipped in the room.

The room was very cold, due to the fact that it was frozen. Pakura stepped closer to the big block of ice, where a body had been frozen in ice, and in front of it, was a plaque made out of ice that is placed on an ice stand. She approached closer to the body that is frozen in it.

The body was that of a 22-year-old man, but Pakura knew many people referred to him as a boy because he was young at heart. He was dressed in his formal Dragon Prince outfit, which was complete with the crown. She snapped her fingers, which cancelled the frozen ice in an instant, and the body fell, right into her arms, the crown slipping from his head, clattering to the ground. She smiled at how it was still well-preserved despite the body being dead for five years, thanks to her ice powers.

"Don't worry, my Prince, I will revive you soon." Pakura whispered tenderly, cradling the body like it's a fragile doll. "I don't care what they say, but my love, I valued you more than my own life. When I get kicked out of the tournament, I promise, I'll return you to Lance. After all, I can tell he misses you very much. I'm sure he'll be glad to see me go, in exchange of you returning. However, you know I have to do my best in the tournament, as expected of the Elite Leader and PAL Princess."

With that, she used her telekinesis to lift the boy, and refreeze him in his icy grave.

She looked down at the plaque that she had made years ago.

_Shiki Kurobane_

_11 April 1988 (D.O.B) to 4 December 2010 (D.O.D)_

_A loving friend, a caring lover_

"_Death is simply the beginning of another story."_

She wondered if she should vent it on another one of the Elites. She nodded to herself, she should. After all, what else does she have to lose?

"Alright, remind me to go to Dream Paint to get soft lead pencils, spray mount, and canvas stretchers for Rosaline, drop off the laundry and fix Jude's shirt in an hour." Pakura said, poking her head out to her Pokémon.

"**What are you going to do?" **Espeon asked.

"I'll be taking a rest in the Ice Grave." Pakura replied. 'And hopefully, I'll freeze to death, but that's highly unlikely, since my powers protect me from the effects of cold.'

* * *

Virgil sighed, as he walked down Luonto City. He had lost to Lucian in the Top 64, and he was a little depressed he got kicked out early. Then again, what to expect with a tournament full of the strongest trainers from all over the world?

His Eevee nuzzled him, trying to cheer him up. Virgil managed a smile at his Eevee.

Eevee nudged him, and pointed to a shop not far away. The Ice Cream picture on the shop window indicated it was an ice cream shop

"Do you want some ice cream?" Virgil offered to Eevee, who nodded eagerly.

"Alright, let's go get some then." He walked up to the shop, opened the door, and entered

"Yes, what ice cream would you like?" The man smiled at him.

"Er…" Virgil was astounded at the amount of choices the shop had.

"It's ok, take your time." The man nodded, being used to customers being indecisive.

"I recommend the strawberry cream. If you want something sweeter, I think you should get the Chocolate Paradise." A voice spoke up.

Virgil yelped in fright, and turned, only to gasp when he saw Rosaline. Beside her, Espeon was looking at them curiously.

"You're…Rosaline Pyra!" Virgil gaped at the girl.

Rosaline smiled. "Hi to you too. So what are you going to buy?"

Eevee pointed to the ice cream flavour, and Virgil said, "I'll get one Strawberry Cream for me and one Chocolate Paradise for Eevee."

"I'll get the Peppermint, please." Rosaline said to the shopkeeper. "And Chocolate Chip for Espeon here."

"Totals up to 1200 Pokédollars." The man answered.

Virgil went to take his wallet, but Rosaline stopped him. "It's my treat." Rosaline smiled.

"But I can't…" Virgil started to protest, but Rosaline went to the counter. Surprisingly, Virgil didn't see her take any money out, but the man allowed her to leave with the ice creams.

"What just happened?" Virgil asked, as they left the shop eating their ice creams.

"Well, it's complicated to explain this privilege. Just search in the library for Hunters." Rosaline grinned, as she licked her ice cream. "You'll understand better. Hey, what's with the gloomy face?" She asked, seeing Virgil's expression.

Virgil sighed, and told her about his horrible loss to Lucian, not even able to take out one of his Pokémon despite having the type advantage with his Umbreon.

Rosaline listened without interruption, and when he was done, she petted him on the shoulder. "Hey, ever since I joined the Elite, sometimes when training, it has been one disaster after another for me."

"You? But you're good enough to be accepted!" Virgil protested.

Rosaline laughed. "Don't let it fool you, Virgil. I once took on Pakura's Ice team with my Fire, and well, I lost badly. My Fire types have a type advantage over her Fairy and Ice, you know."

"Really?" Virgil was sceptical.

"Yes, really. Don't degrade yourself like this. You are very talented. I mean you did win the Vertress Conference 4 years ago, didn't you?" Rosaline smiled.

"How did you know?" Virgil was surprised.

"PAL is a crowd that loves to watch Pokémon battling." Rosaline replied casually. "You stood out among us because you owned nearly all the Eeveelutions, something that only our Champion had, and if you count us, we own every single Eeveelution as well…except he doesn't have Eevee, and you don't have Sylveon, and the PAL Elites together don't own a Leafeon."

"Oh yeah! Could you tell me how Pakura evolved her Eevee into Sylveon? Eevee wants to evolve into a Sylveon!"

**"That's right!"** Eevee yipped in agreement.

"It looks like your Eevee is affectionate towards you, which means half the battle is won." Rosaline smiled softly. "The second one is you got to teach Eevee a Fairy-type move, as Sylveon is a Fairy type."

"What exactly is this Fairy type?" Virgil asked. He only heard about it when he was fighting Pakura, the Fairy master herself, alongside Lance.

"Those Pokémon are very cute and feminine looking. Bug, Fighting, and Dark type move don't work very well against them and they are immune to Dragon type moves. However, they are weak against Poison and Steel." Rosaline explained. "They are many Pokémon that are now Fairy types. I suggest the library if you want to know exactly what Pokémon are now Fairy types, because some of the Fairy type Pokémon are originally native to the other regions." She took out a notebook and wrote down something, before passing it to Virgil. "These are the moves Eevee can learn that are Fairy-type."

"Charm and Baby-Doll eyes…" Virgil read. "What are they?"

"Don't worry, my Espeon would teach your Eevee those moves. Won't you, Espeon?"

"**Of course!" **Espeon said.

"Come on, what are you waiting for? Let's go!" Rosaline gently pushed Virgil along towards the lake.

* * *

Tyson and Morrison, two of Ash's rivals in the Hoenn region, were relaxing at Jude's café.

"This cake is definitely delicious, don't you think?" Tyson asked.

"Definitely!" Morrison replied. "We may have lost in the Top 64, but don't you think we're having a blast here? We even got to see the PAL Elite…not up close, though." He sighed in disappointment, which made Tyson laugh.

"You're right. All of them are unique in their own ways. But the one that stands out the most is Champion Red. He uses different Pokémon for every round. I wonder how many Pokemon does he have under his ownership, and if he has anymore Legendaries besides the Jirachi and Manaphy."

"I want to see what Champion Red looks like though." Morrison replied. "I wonder why he always wears a hood."

"Your guess is as good as mine." Tyson shrugged. "Maybe we can ask him?"

"I wouldn't try it if I were you." A voice said.

Both of them jumped, to see Phillip Robinson standing by their table with his Emolga and a small, round, orange mouse-like Pokémon that he must have acquired recently.

"Oh My God…" Tyson gaped.

"It's Phillip Robinson!" Morrison said, awestruck.

"Great to meet you too." Phillip nodded, swinging a chair from a neighbouring chair until it was near their table and straddled it. "So, how are the pastries?" He nodded to their cake.

"It's great." Tyson replied.

"Good, because this is my friend Jude's shop you know." Phillip said.

"Are you kidding? When we entered, we saw a girl running the shop."

"Oh, she's a part timer Jude hired to run the shop in case he has other duties to do. Even with the tournament, out Elite duties still continue, although Pakura and Red gets the most work, being the Prince and the Princess of PAL, so technically, we got it easy." Phillip waved it off.

"Can we have a battle?" Morrison asked eagerly.

"I would battle, but you guys are eating." Phillip pointed to their unfinished cake. Morrison hastily stuffed the cake, and gulped it down, while Tyson just took his time to finish. Since he only had a few bites left it didn't take long.

"Alright, then, follow me. I know a good place for a battle." Phillip said, as they left the shop

* * *

Ash was running through the forest, with Pikachu clinging tightly to him and Lucario by his side. He hoped he wasn't too late in saving Pakura.

"_**Hey, Ash." **__Ash looked around, before looking down to see a Croagunk sitting there. He was in the PAL Hospital talking to Akira about Clair's injury, while Lance was inside comforting his cousin, and he swore he heard Clair screaming at Lance about not telling her he had a Key Stone and Mega Stone, while Lance was trying to pacify her. Apparently, it would take at least a few weeks for her injuries to heal completely, when he was called by Croagunk. _

"_Hi, Croagunk. What's the matter?" Ash asked. _

"_**You look tense." **__Lucario remarked. __**"Something wrong?" **_

"_**Yeah, there is something." **__Croagunk said. _

"_**What is it?"**__ Pikachu enquired._

"_**I heard Brock and the others discussing they are going to target Pakura during the Top 64, because she was the closest to you and she is the one always seen alone and this morning they said they were going to corner her once she's alone in the forest so you'd hand over your Pokémon they think you poached, and belongs to them." **__Croagunk reported. __**"They bought some sedatives from the pharmacy so as to try and subdue her." **_

_Ash paled, as he thought of Brock's perverted nature and Pakura's beauty isn't helping matters. _

"_Thanks, Croagunk. I'll teleport you to the Pokémon Center right away. Pikachu, Lucario, we're going." Pikachu and Lucario nodded, as instead of running down the stairs, Ash simply opened the nearest window, grabbed his Pokémon, and jumped, somersaulting while using telekinesis to slow down his fall at the same time, and landing on his feet gracefully, not as easy feat considering he was at the ninth floor, and began dashing towards the forest. _

'Please let me not be too late, please…' Ash thought, but screeched to a stop when he saw something light blue out of the corner of his eye. As he got closer to the light blue thing, the colder it got. He reached the ice block, and looked in amusement at the unconscious traitors trapped in a block of ice up to the neck.

Ash's aura glowed, and created a countless amount of lava bullets, before shooting it at the ice, trying to melt it. To his surprise he only managed to melt a quarter of the ice (which meant that the ice is now up to their chest level). He then launched extremely sharp crystal shards from his hands, to try and cut the ice, which scratched the ice, but did not shatter it.

'Now that's weird. Usually, even with the strongest Ice type move by the strongest Ice Pokémon, I can easily melt the ice with Lava Manipulation or break the ice with Crystal Manipulation.' Ash frowned, and then approached the ice, before touching the ice block. 'I knew it. It was aura infused'

Ash wondered if he should leave them there or help them out. Ash placed a crystal barrier around the ice block, before filling the barrier with hot lava up to ankle level. He is now immune to burns thanks to his Lava Manipulation. Maybe the lava would slowly melt the ice. He assumed they can figure a way out when they wake up.

Ash dashed towards the library, wondering if he might find some info there.

* * *

"You've got to concentrate Eevee. Look at Espeon with the biggest and cutest look you've got, and make sure Espeon can't attack!" Rosaline encouraged. She and Virgil were at the forest training his Eevee to use Baby-Doll eyes. Espeon demonstrated it once and now it was Eevee's turn.

Eevee widened her eyes, trying to charm Espeon into not attacking, while Espeon charged her Psybeam. Once again, it failed, which saddened Eevee.

"Hey, Virgil." Rosaline said, as Virgil looked up. "Will you have a battle with me?"

"A battle?" Virgil was surprised that a PAL Elite would want to battle him.

"Yeah. Your Eevee against my Espeon. How does that sound?"

Virgil looked down at Eevee, who nodded her head, and readied herself for a battle.

"You may have the first move." Rosaline offered.

"Eevee start things off by using Iron Tail!" Virgil commanded.

"Espeon, you use Iron Tail too!" Both Iron Tails clashed, and after a moment of struggle, Espeon's Iron Tail overpowered Eevee's, causing her to hit the ground, but Eevee got up, not ready to give up yet.

"Eevee, use Swift!" Virgil said.

"Counter with Psybeam!" The Psybeam managed to destroy the Swift Stars, and Rosaline commanded Espeon to use Tackle, which Eevee narrowly dodged.

"I won't let you get away. Espeon, Confusion!" This time, Confusion managed to hit, and luckily for Virgil, Eevee wasn't confused, but it did a lot of damage so she was struggling to get up.

"Use Tackle, one more time!" Rosaline nodded to Espeon. She charged towards Eevee, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Eevee!" Virgil shouted.

But something happened. As soon as Espeon looked into Eevee's eyes, which was sparkling she stopped, not wanting to attack.

"Eevee, you did it! You learned Baby-Doll Eyes!"

"**Alright!" **Eevee cheered and then froze. She glowed white and became bigger, and when the glow died, in Eevee's place was a Sylveon.

"Eevee, congratulations! You evolved into a Sylveon!" Virgil was ecstatic for his Eevee

"**I did it! I evolved into Sylveon!" **Virgil's new Sylveon was jumping around.

"That's great." Rosaline nodded, as her CommuniDex rang. "Excuse me for a moment." She said, as she pressed a button on her CommuniDex to answer.

Rosaline turned back and said, "I'm so sorry. We have to go. I have to give some tourists a tour on the Historical Museum."

"Thanks for all your help!" Virgil waved to her with his new Sylveon.

Rosaline and Espeon smiled, and ran out of the forest.

Virgil looked down at his new Sylveon. He couldn't wait to return to Unova with a newly-evolved Pokémon.

* * *

"Forbidden techniques known to man" Ash read out the book title. He yawned. He had been poring over book after book after book, and found nothing. He hoped this had something promising, as he turned to look at the content page. He looked down and saw the word Dragon, and that peaked his curiosity. He turned to the page, and saw the word "Forbidden Technique"

"A forbidden technique." Ash whispered. He had found what he was looking for, and the page was brief, but it stated a life reincarnation technique that only people with draconic powers can use, which was a trait the Dragon Princess fitted.

_Dragon Reincarnation Technique_

_This reincarnation technique uses the user's life force, and only those born with the draconic powers can use it. The user places their hands over the target. After this, the user forms a hand seal which causes their entire body to start glowing after which the person's life force is transferred to the target, bringing them back to life, but at the cost of the user's life. _

_Side note: If the technique fails, the user would die, but the target would not be restored to life. Should the technique be interrupted mid-way, all the life force would return to the user. Details on how to perform the technique used can be found in the Restricted Section Accessible by the Prince and Princess of PAL_

"The ice is most likely very hard to melt and if the Dragon Princess plans to use this, she would have planned to use it on the Prince, which means…"

He gasped. That meant that the Dragon Princess was hiding his corpse.

Another thought occurred to him. 'Wait a minute, so the Dragon Princess must've froze the traitors too. But how did the traitors mistake the Dragon Princess as Paku?' Ash widened his eyes. Either the Dragon Princess is disguising herself as Pakura, or…

Pakura IS the Dragon Princess.

**BP: And that is the end of chapter 12. A few more chapters before Season 1 ends, and I start the Alternate Version of Ash x Pakura! (please read below)**

**Yes I've been so busy these past weeks, I had to make a Learning Center for the kids (at least 5 activities to make and keep the kids busy for 15 minutes) and my lesson implementation is coming up (Why is mine so much earlier than most of my classmates? WHY?) And my exams are coming up so I have to study.** **Which means I can't update as much, so please understand as to why it took so long to update.**

**I'm still upset about the troll comment. If you don't like it don't read simple no need to be so outspoken, as the phrase goes, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it!"**

**And another news is, I'm writing a High School AU of PAL Chronicles (Yeah, Ash and the PAL Elites going to high school with the other regional Gym leaders, Elite Fours and Champions as students as well. I'm also thinking of writing a resurrection story, where Professor Sebastain resurrects five people as part of his evil master plan (Yes Ash and the PAL Elites died prior to the story, but he was resurrected by Professor Sebastian in this fic. Inspired by the Resurrection Technique from Naruto, but it works differently) **

**Yes, Pakura's mind is disturbed and she's not sane. Who knows if I'll kill or save her in the story. Yes, she has a grudge against the entire Blackthorn City population, which is why she doesn't treat Clair or Lance very well. Yes, she wanted to kill the traitors and Clair, but didn't because she knew Ash wanted to take them down himself, and as for Clair, it's be suspicious if a Johto Gym Leader was killed, so she spared them this time. **

**Thank you all for reading, and suggestions are welcome on: **

**1\. Pairings in the story (I think you can suggest any pairing you want to see here.)**

**2\. Any traitors you want Paul, Gary, Tracey, the Elites, or their love interests to battle in particular (outside of tournament)**

**3\. What should Pakura train Cynthia in their next session? **

**4\. What kind of Key Stone should Grimsley get? **

**5\. What Pokémon should Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine catch? **

**6\. I decided that people should meet Ash and the others for a change, since this time, Ash is the celebrity instead of a fan. Who should Ash meet? It can be his old rivals from the regions he travelled in, or even characters of the day from Pokémon episode (but if it's the latter, I'd appreciate it if you mention which episode this character came from)**

**7\. Do you want me to start writing the Ash x Pakura version of this story after I finish season 1 or I finish this entire story? I am fine with both. Oh and tell me what differences would you like to see in the alternate version, as the AV is a much darker fic than the original.**

**8\. What sentence (not verdict, since she is guilty) should Misty be given in the next chapter?**

**9\. Should Pakura remain alive, or should she be killed by Ash?**

**10\. What other abilities do you want Ash to have (Yes I'm letting you decide his other powers)**

**11\. For the Alternate Version (Ash x Pakura) should they remain as Prince and Princess or upgrade to King and Queen? **

**12\. Should Pakura and Cynthia be rivals (enemies) in the AV? **

**13\. For the upcoming High School AU, Ash wouldn't like the traitors (in this story) If I were to include Serena, Bonnie and Clemont, who should side Ash? And who would be part of the traitors? **

**14\. Any suggestions on how I can write the next chapter? (Running out of ideas)**


	13. Two more attacked, the PAL Prophecy

**BP: Thanks for all the favourites, follows and reviews! Thanks to all of you, I have decided who should be with Pakura (if you decide to keep her alive. Choices about her fate would be given at the chapter that ends Season 1) but for Jude, I'm torn between Karen and Elesa. **

**I'm sorry I haven't been updating this early, because I'm having exam. But I'll try to update once exam is over and school holiday starts. **

**Warning: One of Ash's dreams is rather disturbing in terms of content. **

"Argh! Which is it?" Ash looked ready to tear his hair.

"**Ash, forgive me if I'm wrong, but…" **Pikachu looked ready to speak.

"What is it, buddy?" Ash asked, running a hand over his hair.

"**The Dragon Princess, being the cursed child, was given away as a toddler 20 years ago, according to Lance. But Pakura just turned 20 in August, and chronological wise, that would be wrong already, unless she was an infant when given away, which was not the case." **

"Oh yeah." Ash slapped a hand to his forehead. Numbers wasn't always his strong suit, as that goes to Phillip. Good thing he had a smart Pikachu to help him. "I forgot, thanks Pikachu."

"**No problem." **Pikachu replied.

"**Since when did you become so smart?" **Lucario asked sarcastically.

"**When you came along." **Pikahcu smirked.

"**Why you-!" **Lucario charged an Aura Sphere, but Ash stopped him.

"Lucario! This is the library! If you want, fight outside!" Ash hissed quietly.

"**Sure." **With that, Lucario grabbed Pikachu, and dragged him outside.

Ash sighed, as he took out more books, intending to do more research. As he read, he wondered about Pikachu's words. If what Pikachu said was true, and adding to the information he got, it is either the Dragon Princess is someone else, like Pikachu speculated, or it's Pakura, and if it is the former, he'll do some more research on who the Princess really is, and if it's the latter, he wondered if 20 was her actual age, considering she was the most mature despite being the one of the younger ones. Maybe her age was fake.

But then again, Pakura would never do anything to harm them, why would she? She doesn't have anything to gain from it…or does she?

Ash groaned, and his hit head on the table. This is one frustrating case to solve.

* * *

Pakura was inside the Yelado Department Store in Yelado Town, a place that was a walking distance within Luonto City. It was also near the courtroom where the trial was held. She was at the second floor buying some Full Restores for show, as she didn't want anyone to suspect her healing powers as her Pokémon never went to the Pokémon Center whenever they were injured, and she had to find a reason, and this was the best. Her Pokémon is going around, exploring the floor.

Just then, she heard an Eevee shouting **"Yay!"** someone yelling "Hey!", and a crash. Pakura sighed. It must be her Eevee. Who else can it be? She walked over to see a pile of identical capes, and Eevee happily snuggling into them. Someone was on the floor groaning.

"Well, what's the point of buying so many capes when it doesn't make you a better Dragon Master?" Pakura asked Lance sarcastically, as she picked up Eevee, who happily nuzzled against her.

"Er…well…" Lance couldn't seem to find an answer.

Pakura frowned, and looked somewhere. "The other regional paparazzi are approaching from half a kilometre away. If I were you, I'd run right now." With that, she hastily went to the cashier to scan her items, before running towards the emergency exit stairs.

Lance weighed his options. The escalator leads to the front door, ad paparazzi may see him as the doors are transparent. The stairs were a no-go as well for the same reason. They may enter the lift before he can close the door. So he turned, and followed the path Pakura had taken earlier, and ran out through the back. He caught a glimpse of Sylveon's pink ear in the part of the forest he had never been to, and decided to follow Pakura, as she most likely knew her way around.

Pakura stopped in front of a tree, looked around, and frowned when she saw Lance.

"I said run, not follow me." Pakura sounded annoyed.

"It's the only way I can go." Lance replied.

"Tsk." Pakura uttered, as she beckoned for Lance to come closer, and as he stopped in front of the tree, noting there was a door (which was currently open) in the tree, and while he was distracted, she kicked him in the butt.

"Ahhh!" Lance yelled in surprise and pain as he was sent flying through a passage way into a room. He crashed heavily onto the floor.

"Ouch…" He groaned.

"Geez, it's just a little pain." Pakura remarked, as she walked in.

"I know…I know…" Lance replied. 'What do you mean by a little pain? You kicked me so hard, I doubt I can even stand.' He painfully stood up and realized he was in a room. Pakura headed off somewhere else, leaving him alone with Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee.

The room had a single bed, and across from the bed was a television mounted on the wall. A desk with a laptop plugged in was next to the bed, and next to the desk was a couch (acorss it was a TV), and at the corner was a bookcase. A second bookcase was located across from the first. One was filled with magazines and another was filled with books, and they were all in alphabetical order. A table with a lacy tablecloth was in the middle with a few chairs. A path led to a smaller room, which was where Pakura was, chopping up Berries she asked Gardevoir to bring. It was actually a mini-kitchen with the typical kitchen equipment. There was also a Berry Blender to make Pokéblocks.

"**Wow, this is so cool!"** Eevee said excitedly, running towards the kitchen.

Lance heard a "What the-?" before a crash occurred in the kitchen, and an irate Pakura came out with her Eevee.

"Here, you entertain her until I'm done." She said curtly, as she plopped her Eevee onto his lap. Eevee curiously tilted her head and sniffed Lance.

'This is just too cute.' Lance thought, watching the Eevee sniff him. Eevee then yipped, and clung onto his cape, climbing up his back.

"Hey! Get down!" Lance cried, as Eevee climbed up his body. Eevee ignored him, and continued climbing, until she reached his head, and when Lance told her to get down again, Eevee simply tightened her paws around his head.

Lance sighed, as Eevee looked down into his eyes with sparkling eyes, which compelled him to speak softly to Eevee.

"Eevee, get down here." He said gently, holding his hands out. Eevee yipped, and jumped down onto his lap.

"Good girl Eevee." He nodded, scratching her head. "Can I watch the TV?"

"Yeah, whatever. Remote's at the desk." Pakura replied curtly.

Lance got up, and carrying Eevee in one arm, he went over to take the remote, and turned on the TV. He nearly spluttered in shock when he saw his parents being interviewed halfway through on television.

"What the?" Lance asked. Pakura came out of the kitchen, and looked at the TV briefly.

"Oh, that." Pakura muttered, about to go back to the kitchen.

"Wait, what's going on?"

"Well, the Pokémon World Championship is down to their last sixteen players. From top sixteen onwards, they're going to do special features on each of us, and they interview your friends and family back home. Did you even listen to the announcer at the TV when you were taking our train here?"

"Er…." Lance had to admit, he didn't because he was too busy chatting with the others about what kind of people the PAL Elites may be, and what opponents they may face in the tournament itself. He ignored Eevee who began gnawing at the edge of his cape.

"Thought so." Pakura muttered 'Is he that dumb?' She then changed the channel once the interview with his parents was over, and Jude's family replaced the footage. Lance briefly saw that Jude had one older brother and one older sister.

"Wait, aren't you going to hear what your family and friends are going to say about you?"

"You can be assured that mine won't be interviewed." Pakura replied bluntly.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have any." Pakura shrugged. "They're all dead."

* * *

"_Ouch, my head hurts." A boy sat up, and rubbed his head. Ash noted that he was somewhat of a silhouette. He gasped when he recognized a younger Pakura shuffling towards him, and offered him a glass of water and aspirins. She was wearing long sleeves, skirt leggings, and a scarf to cover her neck. She also looked like she was in pain, and judging by the way she walked, the pain was most likely on her lower half._

"_Oh thanks." The boy gratefully accepted the water and the aspirin, and drank it down. Then he noticed her clothes. _

"_Hey, why are you all covered up like that?" The boy pointed to her wardrobe choice. "Usually you don't like long sleeves."_

"_The hotel room air-con was cold." Pakura replied. _

"_Really? It didn't' seem that cold to me."_

"_It's twenty degrees." Pakura replied. _

"_Right…you didn't wear long sleeves when we went to Icirrus City in the winter, and we all know it's much colder than Snowpoint City in Sinnoh." _

_To his surprise, she tilted her head downwards, and wouldn't meet the boy's eyes. _

_"Hey Paku-chan what's wrong?" The boy asked, concerned. _

_Pakura gulped, but stayed silent. _

_"Are you okay? Answer me please." The boy pleaded. _

"_N-No, it's nothing." Pakura replied, but she had a frightened look on her face, and she was keeping her distance. Ash wasn't used to this emotional Pakura. _

_"Paku I can clearly see you are frightened." The boy frowned at her. _

_"Er…..there was a robber" Pakura answered, stuttering. "That's why I was scared. So don't worry about it." Ash knew she was clearly lying to the boy. _

"_Robber?" The boy looked incredulous. _

"_Yeah robber, so no need to worry." Pakura tried to smile at the boy, but the edges trembled, like she was about to cry. _

_"Did the robber take anything?" The boy asked her. _

_"Yeah, something like that." Pakura replied, stretching out the word "yeah"._

_"Come on Paku I'm worried about this." The boy said urgently. _

_"It's nothing important?" Pakura answered. Her tone sounded like a question, which meant she was unsure. _

"_Sure?" The boy asked. _

"_Yes, now if you'll excuse me I'm going to buy some ingredients for Poképuffs!" Pakura shouted hastily, slowly shuffling back to the door, before opening it, quickly getting out, and slamming the door. _

"_What the-?" The boy was startled. "Hey, Paku, wait up!" With that, he ran out after her, and decided to follow her from behind. _

_Sure enough, she did enter a supermarket, and began buying some ingredients for Poképuffs like she said she would, much to his relief. However, the boy realized after that, she took a left turn instead of the right, which was where the cashiers were. She walked until she reached the place where they kept the condoms, pregnancy kits, and tampons. _

_Pakura reached out a hand and took a box of the pregnancy kit, much to the boy's bewilderment, before heading to the counter to buy her stuff. _

"_I better get back before she does." The boy muttered, running back to the Plaza Hotel. _

_When Pakura finally got back, the boy said, "Ok, what's with the pregnancy kit, Paku-chan?" _

"_What pregnancy kit?" Pakura acted dumb, and before she could react, he used teleportation to get the groceries to him and took out a pregnancy kit box from the plastic bag. _

"_This." He said, waving the box. _

"_Er…well, I'm trying to make a thermometer where you measure your temperature via urine." Pakura said sheepishly. _

_"That's very difficult to make you know. Plus I think it grosses some people out." The boy said sceptically. _

"_It's just an idea I got bored. No need to worry too much." Pakura replied. _

_"But I really worry." The boy replied. _

_"No need I'm fine. It's just that I'm feeling a little under the weather, that's all." Pakura gave an innocent smile, but she subtly pulled down her sleeve, an action not unnoticed by the boy. _

_"No...I know you are hiding something from me..." The boy muttered. _

_"It's nothing much, besides it's nothing important." Pakura tried to persuade him not to pry. _

_"If you are hiding something from me it must be important." The boy insisted. _

_"And what can you do? Make me talk? Like I said, I don't want to talk about it."_

"_Well, then, I'm sorry Paku...please forgive me for doing this..." With that, Ash noticed Pakura's eyes becoming slightly dull, indicating the boy did use an ability against her. _

"_Pull up your sleeve." The boy commanded. Pakura struggled as her hands moved to pull them, but her mind was holding her hands back. The boy strengthened his mind control, and finally, Pakura pulled up her sleeves. _

_To Ash's horror, her arms were full of bruises and teeth marks. The boy gasped, but shakily commanded her to take off her long sleeved clothes and she obeyed, stripping down to her underwear, and there were similar marks all over her body. Much to Ash's disgust, he saw a white substance and blood at her underwear, which made him very sure she was raped. _

"_What happened, Paku?" The boy cried out._

"_I….got…violated multiple times last night." Pakura forced out. _

"_Is it only one person?" He asked. _

_Pakura nodded. _

"_Who did that to you?" The boy demanded. _

_Pakura stayed silent, struggling against the mind control. She bit her lip to make sure she doesn't say anything. _

_"Please tell me Paku. I'm worried." The boy pleaded. _

_"It….was..." Pakura forced the words out. _

_"Go on...tell me..." The boy encouraged. _

"_Y-You did." Pakura stammered out. _

"**Wake up, Ash! Wake up!"** Pikachu was shaking Ash.

Ash opened his eyes. He was back in the library, slumped over the table. "What happened, Pikachu, Lucario?"

"**You fell asleep, that's what."** Lucario replied.

"Oh." Ash sighed. He must've been so tired from searching hundreds of books to find the information he needed, that he fell asleep on the spot.

"**What did you dream of?"** Lucario asked.

"It's Paku. She got raped by a boy before, and I'm ready to bet he didn't use any protection. The boy is also very skilled in terms of psychic powers, being able to use mind control."

"**Do you think the person in that dream is Shiki, the Dragon Prince?" **Lucario asked.

"Most likely. It's either one of the three possibilities: Pakura herself killed Shiki for raping her, not being able to accept the fact that she lost her purity, and the Dragon Princess herself wants revenge, since Shiki was cheating on her with Pakura and wants to get rid of her, or Pakura, as the Dragon Princess, was forced to be engaged to him due to this, hence the ring on her left ring finger, as I noticed in the dream that she wasn't wearing a ring."

"**What's the third possibility?" **Lucario asked.

"Pakura, as Dragon Princess, forgave Shiki of this act because she loves him very much, and willingly got engaged to him." Ash answered.

"**Does Pakura even look like the type to forgive?"** Pikachu sounded sceptical.

"Well….no..." Ash said, but he suspected that Pakura was once forgiving and sweet, perhaps more so than Rosaline, and he had the impression that the Dragon Prince wasn't on the right state of mind when that happened. He wondered how much Pakura had loved her former boyfriend, or rather, fiancé.

He knew had to investigate Pakura, and wondered if her being a good friend to him was all a lie.

* * *

Every single Johto Gym Leader and Elite Four were visiting Clair in her hospital room, along with her cousin Lance. They had brought gifts such as chocolates or flowers, where it was placed at the vase next to Clair's bedside.

"This sucks, you falling down the stairs." Morty said sympathetically.

Whitney nodded. "Don't worry, the PAL Elites are now investigating this case. Hopefully they'll catch the assaulter soon."

"Hopefully." Clair sighed. She couldn't move her hand or leg as the slightest movement causes a lot of pain.

Lance was at the corner thinking about what Pakura had told him back at her Secret Base.

"_I pretty much stopped caring about what would happen to me in the future ever since my fiancé and my only friend died five years ago. My family is also dead, so I'm not like the rest of you. There's no one left I love. My Pokémon is all I have left."_

"_How can you say this without…showing any emotion?" Lance asked. _

"_I guess I lost the ability to empathize with others and even lost my ability to cry at some point." Pakura shrugged. "I can't remember when, though." _

'But why didn't she mention her Elites? Weren't they her friends?' Lance thought. 'Did something happen between them?'

Meanwhile, Jasmine was browsing the hospital TV, which was run on Internet (which means what could be shown on the TV is dependent on what is on the Internet, and what the watcher selects). Jasmine used a mouse to browse through the previous extremely popular PokéVisions, and her jaw dropped when she saw that the missing Dragon Duo had made PokéVisions as well.

"Hey Clair, this might interest you a bit. Jasmine has found some videos where the Dragon Duo taking part in an exhibition match during a tournament." Pryce said.

"Apparently, they used to make PokéVision videos too. Their videos were very popular, if the ratings say anything." Jasmine said.

"Can we watch the videos?" Clair asked.

"Which one?" Chuck replied.

"Well, let's watch the exhibition match videos." Clair requested.

Jasmine shrugged, and clicked on one of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as a special event in this Trainer Tournament, where Trainers compete to see who would earn the right to battle the Dragon Duo and apply to be a member of the incomplete Elite Four, and to kick off, let's start with an exhibition match between the Dragon Prince and the Dragon Princess!"

The crowd cheered as the Dragon Prince, wearing a white shirt and a black jacket with matching pants and boots, accessorized with a black choker that contained his Key Stone, walked out onto the field and the Dragon Princess, wearing a blue dress with a gold belt around her waist, and grey leggings and dark grey boots along with a bangle that was patterned with flames. Her Key Stone was in the shape of a Charm that was shaped like a dragon's head.

"This would be a quick one on one match between the Dragon Prince and the Dragon Princess. Both of you, please send out your Pokémon!" A younger Evan commanded.

"Charizard, take the battlefield!" The Dragon Prince sent out the Flame Pokémon.

"Let's go, Altaria!" The Dragon Princess chose her Humming Pokémon.

"And let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Charizard/Altaria let's show them the power of our bond!" The Dragon Duo announced in unison, as their Key Stones reacted to their Pokémon's Mega Stones. Charizard and Altaria Mega Evolved at the same time, and they evolved into Mega Charizard (X) and Mega Altaria.

"Ladies first." The Prince offered.

"Altaria, start things off with Dragon Dance!" The Dragon Princess commanded. Mega Altaria used Dragon Dance, which raised its Attack and Speed.

"Charizard, use Focus Blast!" The Prince countered, and Mega Charizard fired a Focus Blast towards Mega Altaria.

"Altaria, bat it back with Steel Wing!" Mega Altaria's wings glowed, and it obeyed, hitting it back to Mega Charizard.

"Dodge, and use Echoed Voice!" The Dragon Prince ordered.

"Disarming Voice, quick!" The sound waves clashed, causing some of the audience to cover their ears. The Echoed Voice overpowered Disarming Voice, which hit Mega Altaria.

"Now, use Iron Tail!" Mega Charizard swung its metallic tail at Mega Altaria, which sent it flying.

"Altaria, are you alright?" The Princess asked worriedly. Mega Altaria shook its head and nodded. "Then Attract, followed by Sing!" The Dragon Princess shouted. Mega Altaria winked, and released several hearts, which surrounded Mega Charizard. They must be of different genders, as Mega Charizard became infatuated.

"Charizard!" The Dragon Prince looked panicked.

Mega Altaria then sang, which caused Charizard to fall asleep.

"Dream Eater!" Princess commanded, and Mega Altaria managed to recover some of its health, while draining Mega Charizard's. "Alright!" The Dragon Princess cheered.

"Oh yeah? Charizard, Sleep Talk!" Sleep Talk turned out to be Blast Burn, and Princess hurriedly called out a Protect. It wasn't in time though, and Mega Altaria got some burns. At the same time, Mega Charizard woke up.

"Charizard, use Toxic!" Toxic hit Mega Altaria, leaving her poisoned.

"Altaria, Façade!"

"Counter with Aerial Ace!" Both of them clashed, causing an explosion, and both were sent flying to their trainer's feet. Both Pokémon got up, but Mega Altaria had a harder time, and the purple glowing indicated the poison was sapping its health.

"Altaria, Heal Bell!" Altaria used the move to cure itself of poison, but the Prince managed to call in a Steel Wing during this distraction, which hit Mega Altaria.

"Altaria, Draco Meteor!" Princess called.

"Charizard, Ember!" The Ember managed to disperse the Draco Meteor, and some nearly hit Mega Altaria, if Princess didn't call out for a Moonblast.

"Now, use Steel Wing, one more time!"

"Altaria, dodge it!" Mega Altaria got out of the way even before the land hit, and reappeared behind Mega Charizard.

"Charizard, Shadow Claw!" The Prince said.

"Dragon Pulse, go!" The Princess cried out, and it resulted in Charizard slashing the Dragon Pulse in half. The Dragon Pulse fused with the Shadow Claw, and it forced Princess to call out a Protect.

"Altaria, Perish Song!" Princess commanded as a last resort.

"I won't let you. Charizard, Hyper Beam!"

"Altaria, no!" Princess screamed, as Mega Altaria, despite its remarkable speed and defence, was hit by the powerful Hyper Beam before it could even start using Perish Song. Mega Altaria fell and as it fell it returned back to its normal form, and hit the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Altaria is unable to battle. Mega Charizard wins. Which means, the Dragon Prince is the winner!"

The Dragon Princess let out a disappointed sigh. "Altaria, return." When Altaria was returned she whispered, "Sorry, Altaria. I failed."

"What are you so upset about?" The Prince approached her. "You were awesome out there."

"I was?' The Dragon Princess sounded sceptical.

"You definitely were." The Prince nodded. "What say we go for lunch?"

The Dragon Princess stayed silent, before leaping, and clinging to his arm, much to the chagrin of their male fans (for the Dragon Princess) and female fans (for the Dragon Prince). But to some, it wasn't surprising, since both of them were members of the Dragon Duo, they had been together for a long time, therefore at some point they would become lovers.

"Can we go for sundae?" She asked hopefully.

The Prince shrugged. "Sure." He replied, and with that, they teleported away.

The video ended, and the Johto guests blinked, being so engrossed in the video they did not realize it ended.

"Huh, it looks like the Dragon Prince is all out offense, while the Dragon Princess is more on defence and speed. No wonder the Prince won, because the Princess either couldn't or wouldn't go on the offence." Karen said knowingly.

'That's weird. The other day when I battled her, she was willing to go on the offence without hesitation. Did some traumatic experience, such as the Prince disappearing, cause her to turn like that?' Lance thought, staring at the TV screen thoughtfully. He sighed, for some reason, he was somewhat envious of the Dragon Prince having her as a romantic companion, and wondered how he could leave her behind like that.

"Who wants to see the PokéVision videos?" Will asked.

"Oh, I'd like to see that." Bruno answered. "Which one do you want, Clair?"

"Doesn't matter, just any of them would do." Clair shrugged.

Jasmine shrugged, and clicked on one of them.

The scene started on the Dragon Princess sitting at a beautiful meadow with some of her Dragon and Psychic Pokémon. There was a rainbow over them, making it a beautiful scene.

She was feeding her Pokémon some Poképuffs, and by their reactions when they ate them, it seemed that they enjoyed it very much. There was an Eevee on her lap as well.

'It didn't occur to me that the Dragon Princess knows how to make them.' Lance thought, seeing the Poképuffs. 'And she had two Eeveelutions? I wonder what that Eevee evolved into. Probably not Espeon, since she has one already.'

Just then, Espeon made some noise that sounded like a question.

"There won't be a place where you'll never meet any trouble." The Dragon Princess answered her Pokémon. "But if there's one it'll be…" Then the music played, and the Dragon Princess started singing.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high

There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby"

Here, she stood up, taking Eevee with her, and ran across the meadow with her Pokémon. This was where her Pokémon had joined in the song, humming the tune of the song, which made a perfect melody.

"Somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly"

The camera looked up, and that was where the Dragon Pokémon that can fly flew across the sky, before cutting back to her.

"And the dreams that you dreamed of

Dreams really do come true."

The scene then cut into the Dragon Princess standing on a Latios as he flew in the sky, and her Pokémon riding on the flying Pokémon's back, one of them including a Latias. Some of the Johto guests applauded her mentally for her bravery on standing on such a fast Pokémon flier like Latios, while Clair was slightly envious that she had the Eon duo under her ownership. Lance, meanwhile, was staring dreamily at the Dragon Princess. Who knew she was an excellent singer?

"Someday I'll wish upon a star

Wake up where the clouds are far behind me

Where trouble melts like lemon drops

Way above the chimney tops

That's where you'll find me" At the "find me" part, she stretched out her free arm, as one of her arms was carrying her Eevee.

Here, she jumped, hugging Eevee close to her, along with her Pokémon and started falling back to the meadow, and Espeon was there to use Psychic to slow her down and place her back to the ground safely, while the other Pokémon also used their Psychic moves to slow themselves or their friends down and land them on the ground safely.

"Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly

And the dream that you dare to,

Oh why, oh why can't I?"

The Dragon Princess looked to the sky one more time, and sang the last verse.

"If happy little blue birds fly across the rainbow, why, oh, why can't I?" She held out the "I" part for a few seconds, and ended the song with a disappointed sigh. She then petted each of her Pokémon lovingly, and that was the end of the video.

"Wow, I can see why that was a popular video." Chuck said. "The way they pulled this video was extremely beautiful, and the performance was stunning."

"Are there any more of these videos?" Clair asked.

"Oh yes, there's some more." Jasmine clicked another one, which revealed a song sang by the Prince. The Princess appeared at first in a dark room, clutching to her Eevee in fear, wandering around, until she bumped into the Prince, who whispered, "Peek-a-boo."

The scene then cut to the Prince and his Pokémon in a completely different room, moving in sync with his Pokémon, and he started singing. The video was cutting to the Princess exploring the dark house with her little Eevee, and the Prince and his Espeon following to make sure she is safe, all the while the song was being sung, which made everyone realize that the song was pre-recorded and then placed into the footage. The whole time, it cut between the Prince following the frightened Princess, following her to protect her frm her fears, and him along with his Pokémon singing the lyrics to the song, dancing and making gestures in sync.

"Wow, the Dragon Duo are some performers." Whitney admired.

Lance wondered which other Eeveelution she had, considering the Espeon he saw in the video is most likely the same Espeon he saw under her ownership, and none of the other Pokémon he saw under her ownership can be evolved from Eevee. He wondered what Eevee evolved into, or if something had happened to that Eevee.

"Lance? Lance!" Someone was calling him.

Lance snapped out of his reverie. "What?" He asked.

"You were daydreaming again. Don't tell me you are in love with that Dragon Princess." Bruno teased.

"Oh come on Bruno! You can't be serious!" Lance laughed it off. 'Darn I better make sure this doesn't go out.' he thought, knowing Bruno guessed right, despite knowing her for only a few days. "So what did you call me for?"

"Look down at your Egg." Koga replied shortly.

Lance looked down, and sure enough, his Egg was glowing, signalling the fact that it was going to hatch soon. Lance hastily took the Egg and ran out of the hospital, wanting to find the Dragon Princess, leaving the rest blinking after him.

"What's with him?" Clair muttered. "He's been acting differently ever since he came to this region. He doesn't seem to be in a hurry to find out who killed our clan."

"Wait, what?" Morty was astonished. "How come it wasn't in the news?"

"Opps." Clair covered her mouth with her uninjured hand when she realized what she had just said.

"Tell us Clair, you can trust us, I mean, we are your fellow Johto guests." Karen said.

Clair sighed, and told everyone about the incident, and when she was done, the others were either in horror, shock or anger.

"Will, you're a psychic, couldn't you find out who killed them?" Bruno asked.

Will shook his head. "Unfortunately, I can't, because I don't have the memory of what had happened that night or at least a shadow of the person and according to Clair, she didn't witness the actual process, she and Lance only saw the results of the wipe-out. If I had a silhouette of the person, I might have been able to deduce some information."

Clair sighed. "Never mind, Lance and I would investigate ourselves. After all, it's our home that was destroyed. But when I find out who it is, he or she isn't going to get any mercy."

* * *

"Well, that didn't work very well." Lance muttered, watching his Haxorus groan from the Dragon Breath attack that Pakura's Mega Sceptile used to hit the Dragon Pulse back to him, which meant he got hit by both the Dragon Pulse and Dragon Breath. He had tried firing an attack on Mega Sceptile and while he was distracted countering it, he had tried to attack, but failed, as Mega Sceptile dodged it on time, and attacked back.

"That's very good! You first make sure your opponent is distracted from countering an attack, then quickly fire a Thunder Wave. That way they'll be temporarily paralyzed and you can make your next attack." Pakura said, as her Mega Sceptile was dusting himself off from attacking Lance's Haxorus.

"Hey, that's a good idea." Lance replied. "Was is another one of your Dragon Duo strategies?"

"I designed those out of boredom." Pakura shrugged. "Wasn't much. Besides, it might have been used before we even made this strategy so we can't claim it as ours."

"But you're the first to make this official." He pointed out.

Just then, Pakura caught the Egg glowing. "Is your Egg going to hatch?"

"Yeah, I have a feeling it's going to hatch." As if on cue, the Egg glowed once more, signalling the hatching is getting closer.

The two of them got closer to the Egg, and it glowed white, and formed into the shape of a Pokémon. This Pokémon is a bird-like, dragon Pokémon with an aerodynamic body, and the lower half of its body is blue with jet-plane wings and fin-like feet. It also has a red triangular marking on its chest. He looked around and seeing Lance, went to nuzzle him on the cheek.

"It's a Latios…" Lance gasped at the Latios who was currently nuzzling him, realizing that the Dragon Princess had given him a Legendary Dragon Pokémon.

"That settles it." Pakura muttered. "It looks like I'd have to give you a Latiosite."

"Wait, Latios can Mega Evolve?" Lance was astonished.

"Yeah, didn't you know? Why don't we train Latios for a few days, and save him for the Top 8? According to the Dragon Prince, Legendary Pokémon when hatched can battle immediately. There is something about them that makes them more mature than non-Legendary baby Pokémon."

* * *

"Meowth is unable to battle!" Morrison announced. "Mega Steelix wins!" Meowth was down with burns and bruises while Mega Steelix looked like it hardly battled.

"Well, I expected it from a PAL Elite Four." Tyson sighed, as he returned his Meowth, making a mental note to send Meowth to the Pokémon Center after this. "Man, even my most powerful Pokémon can't land a hit on Mega Steelix."

"I told you. When I tried to use Growlithe for a type advantage against his Dedenne, I still lost. And here I thought I got a chance considering he adopted it this morning." Morrison sighed, looking at the tiny mouse-like Pokémon, who was on Phillip's shoulder.

"Type match-ups doesn't matter much actually. Don't know why you two think low of yourself. You were talented enough to be placed high, and one of you even won the Ever Grande Conference all those years ago." Phillip shrugged.

"You watched it?" Tyson was surprised. Morrison looked nervous.

"I did. We have old tapes of all the conferences in the television room in the library. I mean, I'd watch my own region's conference, wouldn't I?"

"You were from Hoenn?" Morrison pointed to Phillip.

"Er….yeah. Didn't you know? I used to live in Mauville Hills."

"Wait…as in the high-class apartment complex in Mauville City?" Morrison asked.

"You were from Mauville City?" Tyson was astonished. "That's where I was from! How come I never see you in our hometown?"

"That's because I never returned home ever since I moved here." Phillip explained, petting his new Dedenne.

"Why not? I'm sure your family misses you." Morrison said gently.

"I don't really want to talk about it." Phillip said shortly. There was a pause, before he said, "Anyway, both of you have good strategies. The problem is, you have a subtle pattern that the opponent like the Elite Four can figure out easily, and exploit it to their advantage, just like I did."

"What do we do?" Morrison asked.

"Create an unpredictable pattern so the opponent wouldn't know your next move. Make a system or something so it would look like you can communicate with your Pokémon without saying anything, which would fluster them for a while. Create another strategy as backup so that should the opponent figure it out, you can use this strategy. Sometimes, it's all about planning ahead." Phillip sighed.

"Does it work with you?" Tyson said.

"It doesn't work on the Leader and the Champion." Phillip replied sheepishly. "But then again, these two are stronger than I am."

"Can we meet the Leader or the Champion?" Tyson asked hopefully.

"Don't get your hopes up. They are really busy people, and their calendar is filled with duties to do and events to attend. Even we don't see them much."

"I see." Tyson said, a little disappointed.

"But I promise I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks, Phillip." Morrison said.

"Welcome. Right now, I got to go, I'm scheduled to try out a new game in a few minutes."

"Really?" Morrison sounded interested.

"Yeah, I'm an excellent gamer, name a game, and I can play it, that's why occasionally they call me the King of Games." Phillip nodded.

"Can we come?" Tyson asked.

"You can't, the makings of the game are top secret." Phillip placed a finger to his lips. "Well, good luck in your training!" The two waved goodbye to him, as he gestured to Emolga and Dedenne, who followed him. Unknown to Emolga and Dedenne, someone had placed Phillip into her Mind Control, which caused him to part ways with Morrison and Tyson early.

As he walked past the tree, a telepathic voice said, 'You know what to do, right, Phillip?'

Phillip monotonously gave a slight nod, his eyes dull. He then walked towards the Tower.

* * *

"We've gotten lost! What should we do?" A girl cried. She was wearing a Japanese sailor-like uniform, a green blouse with white puffy sleeves, and a red ribbon just below the collar. It was also complete with a dark green skirt. Around her were her friends, which were all males, and wearing a long sleeved dark green shirt with a white shirt beneath, and matching pants.

These were students of the Pokémon Technical Institute, a school located back in Kanto. Students from every Pokémon Academy came as well due to the principals of each Academy figuring that watching the tournament would be a great experience for the students, and the students had the same thought, which was why they paid a lot for this school trip and the tickets to the stadium, including for rooms in a hostel in Yelado (hence why the hostels are now packed) and they would be staying until the tournament ends.

"Don't worry Giselle." A boy assured her. "We'll find our way back somehow."

"Lost?" A voice asked.

The group turned to see the person wearing a hood with a Pikachu and Lucario.

"Oh My God, it's Champion Red!" Giselle had hearts in her eyes. "And his Pikachu and Lucario!"

"Can we have your autograph?" Another boy shoved a notebook at Ash. His friends, seeing what he did, followed suit.

"Er….sure." Ash sounded uncertain, as he rarely did autographs, but the students looked so hopeful, and besides, he had met them before a long time ago. He noted that Giselle grown up to be a very lovely teenager, but she was nowhere near Pakura in terms of looks. He took their notebooks and signed his name (Red) and wrote a few short messages in the autograph book.

"So, what are you all doing here?" Ash asked.

"We are here for a school trip, you see, but we got lost." Giselle said sheepishly, scratching her head.

"And how did you get lost?" Ash enquired.

"You see, we saw Joe, our former school friend for the first time in years, and we were so engrossed with talking to him about how we made it to the advanced class and will graduate soon, and him talking about his journey, which he said he met with difficulty, but he had fun in his journey, we didn't realize the others left without us. We only realized when Joe left to a shop to buy some Soda Pop for us." A boy explained.

"Explains a lot." Ash nodded.

"Champion Red? Am I dreaming?" A voice asked. Ash turned to see a brown haired teenager standing with his Victreebel. In his arms were a few bottles of Soda Pop.

'So his Weepinbell evolved.' Ash thought.

"You're not dreaming, Joe." Giselle said, preening her hair to make herself look better. "It's really Prince Red." She stared at Ash dreamily, which made Ash gulp.

"Can I have a battle?" Joe requested enthusiastically, as he gave out the Soda Pops.

Ash hesitated. "I am in a bit of hurry. I…"

"Come one? One match?" Joe begged.

"Alright, a one-on-one then." Ash conceded.

"Alright! I choose Victreebel!" Joe said.

"Tyranitar, lend me your aura!" He sent out the Armor Pokémon. The Tyranitar was wearing a Mega Stone. The moment it was sent out, a sandstorm kicked due to its Ability Sand Stream.

"Can you Mega Evolve your Tyranitar?" Joe asked. "I want to experience the power of Mega Evolution myself."

"It'll make it more difficult for you to win, but sure." Ash shrugged. "Tyranitar, let our auras become one!"

At these words, Ash's Key Stone reacted to the Tyranitarite, and Tyranitar Mega Evolved to Mega Tyranitar. Giselle and her friends watched in awe at the Mega Evolution that was happening before their eyes. They had watched it in the tournament, but seeing it up close was something else.

"You may have the first move." Ash offered.

"Victreebel, let's use Energy Ball!" Joe said, pointing to Mega Tyranitar.

Ash closed his eyes, and lowered his head slightly, and Mega Tyranitar concealed itself in the sandstorm, effectively dodging the Energy Ball.

"Joe, he can command his Pokémon non-verbally like Phillip, Jude and Pakura! Keep your guard up!" One of the boys shouted, as he drank his Soda Pop.

"Very perspective. When three of the Elites can do something, logically, you can assume the Champion can too." Ash nodded. "So, what would you do?"

"Victreebel, Sweet Scent!" Joe commanded.

Ash smiled to Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Tyranitar used Blizzard to blow the Sandstorm away and hit Victreebel at the same time. Also, shortly after, the sunlight seemed to be much stronger than usual.

"Wow, amazing…he can use Pokémon moves to prevent his Pokémon from being hit and attack at the same time." Joe was awestruck. "Victreebel, use Giga Drain!"

As Victreebel charged towards Mega Tyranitar to use the said move, Joe heard Ash say, "Now, Tyranitar." and Tyranitar used a powerful Fire Blast which hit Victreebel. Due to Sunny Day powering up Fire Blast, it was an instant knock-out for Victreebel.

"Victreebel!" Joe was running to support his fallen Pokémon. "Are you alright?" Victreebel managed a nod, and Joe smiled. "You did great. Take a nice long rest." With that, he returned Victreebel to its Pokéball.

'He went through such great lengths for his Pokémon, even though in some battles, the opponent may be preparing a move to finish his Pokémon off, and he ran out, knowing he risks being hit by a move had I called it out. He's one passionate Trainer.' Ash thought, as Mega Tyranitar returned back to its normal form.

"You have the potential to do well." Ash said to Joe, as he returned Tyranitar, thanking it for its good work.

"Really?" Joe was surprised the Champion would say this to him.

"Treating Pokémon as friends rather than as battle tools is one of the most important things when becoming a Trainer." Ash advised, as he petted his Pikachu and Lucario. "You have to remember that Pokémon themselves have feelings as well, and when you and your Pokémon's hearts become one in Pokémon battling, the thrill of the battle would be there, and although you may lose, you knew you and your Pokémon had done your best and had fun, and will work together to win next time. Don't you agree?" He asked his two Pokémon.

"**That's right!" **Pikachu nodded.

"**Like he says." **Lucario replied. Although the students didn't understand them, they knew what the Pokémon was saying judging by the body language.

The group was now staring at him in admiration.

"Can we ask you something?" Giselle said.

"Hmm?" Ash made a noise of assent.

"Why did you arrest Misty for?" Giselle asked.

"Oh that. You see, I don't really care what she does to me, but what she did to my friends is unforgivable. One, she tried to steal my Pokémon, who is also my friend, and two, she allowed some man access to the Tower, and he nearly assaulted Paku in that way." He emphasized the last three words so that the group knew what he had meant, and when they did, they had disgust all over their faces.

"Shame. We knew her 8 years ago, and she did help me realize something." Joe said. "I met her in the Cerulean Gym as well on my journey, and she wasn't so bad."

Ash shrugged. "As people say, expect the unexpected. In life, surprises always happen."

Just then, his CommuniDex rang. "Excuse me for a second." He said to the group.

"What?" Ash answered, and saw it was Phillip. He looked distraught and worried.

"Er….we kind of need you back here again." Phillip sounded sheepish. He was also holding an Ice Pack to his head, and blood slowly trickled from there.

"What's going on?" He whispered, seeing the blood.

"Jude's been attacked." Phillip whispered back, knowing he had company.

"What? By who?" Ash was surprised.

"Well….me, actually, but I swear, I didn't know what I was doing!" Phillip looked guilty.

"I'll be right there." Ash muttered, closing the CommuniDex, just as a voice said, "There you guys are!"

"Everyone!" The group turned to see the rest of their classmates and the teacher waving to them. "Thank goodness!"

"I'm sorry, I've got to go, but I had fun."

"Thanks for everything, Champion Red!" The group waved to him.

Ash nodded, and ran off, back towards the Tower.

* * *

"Jude! I'm so sorry! I didn't know what came over me!" Phillip sounded panicked. They were at the Tower together when Phillip suddenly attacked Jude.

Jude had tried to fight back by binding Phillip with Shadow Puppetry, where he controls the targets movements via shadows, but Phillip's speed was increased with his electric armour, and used a barrier to reflect the huge water waves Jude summoned (he was trying to use it to crash down at Phillip) back to Jude, who got soaked before he cancelled the ability, and electrocuted him. Liepard, Emolga and Dedenne tried to stop Phillip, but he simply launched a steel ball at them, which knocked them out.

Phillip only snapped out of it when Jude threw a glass ornament, which shattered at his head, but due to him using aura to guard at the last second, the injury wasn't as bad as it should've been, but he was still bleeding.

"It's fine. We all know it's the Dragon Princess who did this. After all, she is a powerful psychic, and is after all of us." Jude waved it off.

"Wait, if the Dragon Princess had a control of me when I was on my way back, how come I didn't notice her presence?" Phillip was puzzled, as his eyes glowed, and the glass ornament repaired itself. He then picked it up and placed the ornament back where it belonged.

"She may have the ability to supress her aura, like me." A voice said. Phillip and Jude turned to see Ash with Cynthia, who Ash had ran into on the way back here. "Where's Rosaline and Paku?"

"Rosaline is on the way here." Jude replied. "Pakura, I don't know."

"It looks like the Dragon Princess is a bigger trouble than we thought." Ash said. "This ability allows the user to suppress their aura to the point that it becomes completely undetectable. This would make it impossible for other aura users to track them via aura. However, the downside is, since the user suppressed their aura, they are unable to use aura abilities. And since Mind Control is psychic, it explains why you didn't detect her when she used it on you, Phillip. Aura abilities and psychic abilities are different, you know."

Just then, the elevator dinged, and Rosaline and Grimsley entered carrying a few bags, and much to everyone's surprise, Pakura. Sylveon had an Eevee, who was wearing a blue collar, on her back, and Ash was puzzled when he saw another one being carried by Pakura.

"Wait, what is going on here?" Ash asked, pointing to the two Eevee.

"Oh, Grimsley received an Egg as a gift earlier this morning, and it hatched into an Eevee when we stopped by the cake shop, and ran into Pakura here, who helped me buy my supplies at Dream Paint. She helped us check the Eevee and confirmed that this one is a male and it's healthy. Grimsley placed a blue collar to differentiate his Eevee from Pakura's." Rosaline indicated the Eevee that Sylveon was carrying with her feelers.

'Thank goodness while checking Eevee, I sent him the memory of me giving his Egg to Grimsley and Sylveon and Espeon being his parents, if not Eevee would be blindly loyal to Grimsley.' Pakura thought.

"Wow….that's great, congrats!" Cynthia was happy for Grimsley.

"Thanks. But the funny thing was Rosaline wasn't the one who gave me the Egg. I wonder who sent me the Egg." Grimsley said. "Either way, I'm glad to receive a new Pokémon."

Pakura sighed when she saw Jude and Phillip.

"What now?" Pakura placed a hand on her forehead.

Ash looked at her, and tried to scan her mind, and came up with no memories of her being a Dragon Princess whatsoever. Just memories that he knew she had. He wondered if it was because she only had those memories, or because she had a Psychic Shield, like the Dragon Princess. Ash tried to read her mind, and surprisingly, he can read her thoughts.

'Why am I stuck with these dumbasses who can't even take care of themselves? Oh well, it looks like I have to cover for them again. Wait, how about telling Phillip Jasmine was the one who sent the card? That'll get them together.' Pakura thought.

Ash spluttered when he read the part that Jasmine was the one who sent the card.

"What's wrong?" Cynthia asked, as everyone else frowned at him. Grimsley, meanwhile, was taking Eevee from Sylveon, and cradling him.

"Nothing." Ash replied. 'Well, that settles it, Pakura might not be the Dragon Princess. I didn't scan anything suspicious from her mind.'

"…" Pakura stayed silent.

"What do we do now?" Rosaline asked, as she went over to help Phillip press the ice pack to his head, and Pakura went to apply the same cream she gave to Cynthia to Jude's burns and bruises.

Ash sighed, as this time the surveillance camera won't work as the Dragon Princess attacked Jude through Phillip, and Phillip himself had no memory of being controlled. His Pokémon couldn't even tell he was controlled until it was too late.

"From now on, no one should be seen alone." Ash sighed. "Try to have at least one person at your side at all times, get it?" He hoped that at least one would catch on the Dragon Princess' movements if she tried to strike again.

The others nodded, while Pakura simply kept quiet.

"Oh yeah, Jude, you'll have to postpone your shooting. Send a message or something to inform them." Ash added as an afterthought. "For now, we should prepare to hear the sentence, and then we can come back here for dinner. Oh alright, I know you have to judge the Contest." Ash said to Pakura.

"Alright." Jude conceded, while Pakura rolled her eyes, as if to say "Obviously".

* * *

Elesa yawned. She was so tired from trying every single dress in Jin and Aquamarine's showroom and posing in them. She couldn't believe the number of dresses she had on and posed with today. Short ones, long ones, straight-skirt ones and poofy-skirt ones, white ones, pink ones, blue ones and even a black one that matches her hair.

Even during the tournament, which she was supposed to be free, she still had modelling to do, although she was having a break from her Gym Leader duties. The purpose of this dress-trying-on business was to find a dress she was going to wear for an upcoming modelling contest, where she was selected to be one of the judges by Jude, and also it's for photo shoot purposes. The contestants have to design a dress and wear it on stage and model it for the judges to see, and the winner gets an unlimited fashion pass to all the clothing stores that adorn PAL.

"So, have you decided on the dress you want?" Aquamarine asked Elesa.

"Er…." Elesa sounded nervous.

"Well, take your time, I wonder where Jude is, he's supposed to be here trying on his outfits like an hour ago." Aquamarine sounded irritated.

"He won't be coming in." A voice said.

Aquamarine looked up to see Jin standing at the doorway.

"Jin, have you decided on your outfit?" Aquamarine asked.

"Yes, I have." Jin nodded, as one of the judges in the upcoming modelling contest, he had to have an outfit ready as well.

"Why not?" Elesa asked to Jin's first statement.

"Apparently, Jude is not feeling well today." Jin answered.

"But he's fine when I saw him during the tournament." Elesa protested.

"Something happened, ok?" Jin snapped slightly.

"Alright, alright, chill." Aquamarine tried to pacify Jin.

"Aquamarine, get Pakura's dress ready for the Contest tonight. You have an hour left to do so, as she would be coming over immediately after the verdict for the Misty case is read out. Elesa, you are free to go wherever you like and do whatever you want, just give us your decision in three hours. I'll be going back to the courtroom with the other members of the Zodiac to discuss the final sentence, and seek Chairman William's approval of it."

"Alright." Aquamarine nodded, as Jin left the room.

* * *

Jude sighed, as he lay down at the edge of the lake with his Liepard. Things had started to go downhill ever since they had arrived for this tournament. He wondered what grudge the Dragon Princess had against them and why is she attacking them.

And then there's Clair.

Why would the Dragon Princess hate and want revenge against Clair (and possibly Lance), when it's most likely she doesn't know her personally, considering she's from this region? And also, what did the note Clair had with her meant?

"Wonder if she's from Blackthorn." Jude muttered to Liepard. Liepard made a movement that Jude assumed to be a shrug.

"Houndoom, hold on!" A familiar voice called out. Jude sighed, and sat up, only to see a Houndoom struggling in the lake.

"What happened?" Jude asked Karen, who was surrounded by her Pokémon.

"We were doing training when Weavile used Ice Beam on the ground, and Houndoom slipped, right into the water! Please help! Houndoom can't swim!" As if on cue, Houndoom sank, and never surfaced.

'Well, duh. Houndoom is part Fire. Fire-types are normally scared to swim, despite Houndoom's appearance may look like it was built for swimming.' Jude thought. "Why can't you just jump in to save her?"

"Well….I can't swim very well, and I know how deep this lake goes." Karen looked scared for her Houndoom.

"Fine, I'll go in." Jude bit out, trying to ignore the bruises from Phillip's earlier attack. Swimming would most likely worsen his wounds, as Pakura had advised him not to do any strenuous exercises such as swimming until his bruises heal.

Normally, he would leave girls to deal with their own situation, but this is involving a Pokémon. He dived inside the lake to look for Houndoom, and activated his underwater breathing ability so he could stay in the water to look for Houndoom without surfacing for oxygen.

As he got deeper, he started to use his night vision ability so he can see the surroundings better. He found Houndoom some distance away, at the bottom of the lake.

Jude sighed, which causes bubbles to form, and swam to get Houndoom. He got hold of her under one arm, and proceeded to swim towards the surface.

Suddenly, a dark shape appeared, and much to Jude's horror, it was a wild Sharpedo.

Jude gritted his teeth, as he can feel that his injuries are getting worse, and threw his Pokéball, revealing Luvdisc.

'Luvdisc, hold that Sharpedo off.' Jude told Luvdisc telepathically. 'I have to bring his Houndoom back. I'll come back for you.'

"**With pleasure." **Luvdisc proceeded to battle the wild Sharpedo to buy Jude some time.

Jude continued swimming to the surface, and unceremoniously threw Houndoom to Karen's feet, and dived back into the water, to see Luvdisc beating the daylights out of the wild Sharpedo.

'Alright, nice work, Luvdisc.' Jude told her, when wild Sharpedo fainted, and sank towards the bottom of the lake.

"**Thanks Jude." **She replied, as he returned her back to the Pokéball.

"Are you alright Houndoom?" Karen crouched down to her Pokémon.

Jude silently went over to Houndoom, and checked on her. His hands glowed with aura, and he used it to force the Houndoom to cough up the water she swallowed. After a few minutes of doing this, Houndoom opened her eyes, coughing out the last of the water. Once this was done, Jude stood up, and got ready to leave.

"Thank goodness." Karen was relieved and turned to thank Jude, only to see him wince and clutch to his rib area, and sank to one knee.

"Are you ok?" Karen rushed over to help him, only for him to slap away her hands.

"Get away from me." Jude hissed. "I don't need your help." He then stood up.

"Wait, it's clear you are injured. Take your shirt off so I can see them." Karen pleaded.

"It's nothing." Jude brushed her off.

"It isn't nothing." Karen refused to accept it.

"I said, no need, ok?" Jude shouted, and it was loud enough for the Pidgeys to fly out of their nests.

"Look what's your problem? I'm trying to help." Karen folded her arms.

"I don't need it." Jude said dismissively, as he began to walk away.

"Here I thought you were the friendly socialite everyone says you are." Karen said.

Jude stopped and turned around. "One thing you should know?" Jude smirked and approached Karen, who froze. He leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Never associate with me. It might just lead to your downfall."

* * *

"Oh yeah, Phillip, I forgot to give you something." Pakura called to Phillip, just as they were about to have a shower and wear something clean before the verdict.

"What is it?" Phillip frowned, approaching the Leader.

"Here." Pakura handed him yet another card. "From your secret admirer."

Phillip looked down at the card. This time, the card had a picture of the lady holding a finger to her lips. Inside the card says "Shhh…." but under this, was another short poem.

"I wonder who my secret admirer is, and how she knows I like poems." Phillip smiled. "You know who is sending me those cards, don't you?"

Pakura gave him the same look she gave Ash earlier.

"Who sent me those cards? Could you tell me?" Phillip pleaded.

"I can't tell, I promised her."

"A clue?" Phillip begged.

"The person is closer than you think."

Phillip nodded. "Alright, thanks." Phillip was about to turn and head to his room, when a sharp pain hit his head and he fell on his knees to the ground.

"_So, why did we come here for tea?" Phillip was looking around at the rather old café. _

"_You'll see, Phil. You see, one of the reasons is not many people come here because kind of a hippy place where they have loose tea in those green plastic containers." A silhouette across from him replied. Judging by the voice, the person is female, and must've been close to him, calling him Phil. "But the best part has yet to come." _

"_What do you mean?" Phillip was puzzled. _

_The girl pointed to one of the employees, who was holding a piece of paper, and announcing that she was going to read a famous poem called If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda, and all the customers turned to look at her, while she cleared her throat and started reading. The way she read the poem, it allowed the customers to imagine themselves in the plot of the poem. _

"_Wow! They hold poetry readings here?" Phillip was amazed. _

"_The best part is, it's regular, and sometimes, a badly written poem allows us laughter with the way the employees here would read it." The girl said. _

"_I think this is the best place to have some drinks and openly talk when we are in public." Phillip said, sipping on his tea. "Thanks for recommending this place."_

"_Makes you forget everything, right?" The girl said, and Phillip could sense she was smiling. _

_Phillip's eyes turned cold. "No, not really. Benzene is going to use us and sell us into prostitution to affluent associates of his, and if we don't go with his plan, he's going to ruthlessly kill our loved ones. Even Rosaline wasn't spared, and she only became an Elite two weeks ago." Since not many people came here, they could openly talk about it. _

"_That's because he was paranoid that he will lose his power as our manager. I am beginning to suspect he wasn't our assigned manager. I mean, which manager would keep arranging interviews and meetings with the press and force us to participate in events we don't wish to, and ask us to act the way he wants? Real managers help us deter the press, and let us participate in things we are interested in, and act like ourselves." The girl agreed, sipping on her hot chocolate. _

"_I know. What are we going to do?" Phillip sighed. _

"_Don't worry. I'll talk to him tonight. It might get you out of this prostitution thing and even guarantee your family is safe." _

"_What? Talking won't help!" Phillip yelped. _

"_Of course it will. I got a plan." The girl waved dismissively. _

"_Just promise me….the moment things get dangerous, call us for help. You're my best friend, you've been through so much already, and I won't let you suffer anymore." _

_The girl kept quiet for a long time, before saying, "I promise." _

"_Cheers?" The girl held out her cup of hot chocolate, and Phillip smiled as they clinked their cups together. _

"_Don't worry, I'll never abandon you." _

"**Phillip! Are you ok?" **Emolga and Dedenne shouted. Phillip opened his eyes to find that Pakura is supporting him with a frown.

"Are you sure you are ok enough to attend the verdict?" Pakura asked.

"I'm fine. I must be tired after the mind control, that's all." Phillip replied. "My head hurts."

"Alright….then take a rest, I'll get some water and aspirin." With that, she headed for the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

"Thanks, Pakura." Phillip nodded.

As she left, Phillip was in deep thought. It looked like part of the memory block broke, though he did not know why. He made a mental note to tell Ash later.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Pakura narrowed her eyes. 'Phillip had regained one of his memory. This is bad.' She took out a gun. 'I have Shiki's ability to share his memories by shooting them into another person's head using a revolver and conjured Aura Bullets. However if he, or rather, I, shoot someone with a memory of their own, said memory is erased indefinitely. Should I use this?'

With resolved determination, she opened the kitchen door slightly, and aimed it at Phillip's head. Just as she was about to shoot, the elevator dinged, and Jude stepped in.

"Hey, where's Pakura?" Jude asked. "I need her again, my injuries got worse."

"In the kitchen, getting aspirin and water for me." Phillip replied. At this, Jude turned to the kitchen, and Pakura was forced to hide her gun, and quickly get the glass of water, and the aspirin.

The door opened, and Jude stepped in, and Pakura said, "Let me guess, you went swimming?"

"How did you know?" Jude asked.

"You're dripping on the floor." Pakura pointed to the puddle he made, as she went to get the first-aid kit again.

She handed Phillip the glass of water and the aspirin, and set to work on Jude's wounds.

* * *

"Do you think we should get Phillip and Jasmine together?" Ash asked Pikachu. They were in their room preparing to go to listen to the sentence handed out.

"Definitely." Pikachu nodded, eating a Poképuff with Buneary. Lucario was at the side practicing martial arts with a light green bone of energy created from Bone Rush. "I mean, those two do look cute together."

"And from what I extracted from Paku's mind, she was sending Phillip cards to get his attention. And Phillip is still wary for girls like Jude's ex." Ash nodded knowingly. "Should we tell?"

"**Well, on one hand, telling Phillip would lead him to confront Jasmine about it and hopefully they would get together. On the other hand, Jasmine wished Pakura not to tell, and it may break the relationship between her and Pakura."** Buneary said.

"**Ah ha, but if they get together, she may thank Pakura or something."** Pikachu pointed out.

"**I still say follow your instincts, Ash." **Lucario said, looking up from his training.

Ash considered the points given to him, before he shrugged, and went off to find Phillip. Perhaps he'll try and tell him before the others meet them in the living room.

* * *

"You what?" Rosaline was surprised.

"I regained one of my memories." Phillip replied.

"It looks like the Dragon Princess' mind control may have broken part of the memory block. That's a good thing. If the memory block is slowly going to break, it means that we might know who the Dragon Princess is." Ash said knowingly. 'Although, I have a feeling I'll figure who it is before this happens. I have a feeling it would all end tomorrow.'

"By the way, where's Grimsley?" Jude asked.

"Oh, he's at the rooftop. He wants to show his new Eevee the garden." Ash replied absent-mindedly. "Someone go get him."

"I'll go." Rosaline volunteered.

Meanwhile, at the rooftop garden, Grimsley and his Eevee were looking into the night view of PAL. The bright lights also helped illuminate the garden.

"Isn't this beautiful, Eevee? This is PAL's rooftop garden, and there's a great view below too! Do you like them?" Grimsley asked.

Eevee yipped, and nodded happily in reply.

"Eevee, you're one of the cutest thing I've ever seen." Grimsley remarked, as he scratched his Eevee behind the ears, who cooed when he felt Grimsley scratch his ears in affection. "Someday, we'll fight together in a battle alongside my Pokémon, and perhaps even take part in the Elite challenge when Trainers challenge me." Eevee yipped at the prospect of battling in a prestigious battle such as the Elite challenge.

"Hey, Grimsley!" Rosaline was at the door.

"What is it, Rosa?" Grimsley asked.

"We are about to leave to hear the sentence. You coming?" Rosaline asked.

"Alright, coming." Grimsley crouched down, allowing Eevee to hop on his shoulder, and followed Rosaline.

"Enjoying your new Eevee?" Ash asked dryly, as he watched Grimsley enter with his Eevee.

"You bet." Grimsley nodded. "I've always wanted one to evolve into an Umbreon. I think tonight, after the verdict is read out, I might go hunt for some new Pokémon. I mean, I hear in this region, there are more Wild Pokémon, and some new ones we have never seen before!"

"Hey, me too! Can I come along?" Jasmine asked. Phillip had called her earlier to come join them to hear the sentence, which she accepted.

"Sure." Grimsley shrugged.

"Just don't come in groups. It'll startle them." Ash advised.

"Ok." Jasmine said.

"Shall we go?" Ash asked the group, as the elevator doors opened in front of them.

The group nodded, and they entered the elevator.

* * *

"I have reached my decision, based on evidence and the court session from last time." William announced to the courtroom. The crowd waited with bated breath as William hit his gavel once.

"I sentence Misty Waterflower to a minimum of 20 years in the PAL Jail without parole, and after that, she may apply for parole if the security deems her behaviour worthy of one. If any reports of misbehaviour are reported, regardless if there is any victim involved, she'll be sentenced for up to 50 years. Her Gym Leader status will be revoked, and Kanto Champion Steven Stone would decide on the person to take over the Cerulean Gym once the tournament is over. Her Pokémon would also be put up for adoption. She will also automatically sent back home in house arrest and probation for 10 years after being released, and be permanently banned from travelling in PAL after she is released, and whether she is banned in other regions would be up to the Pokémon Leagues of each region." William said out the sentence.

"What? You can't do this!" Misty shouted out. "My sisters are having the Gym."

"According to the Kanto League, your sisters have been doing nothing but water performing shows in the Gym, and also, they give the Cascade Badge away for free to Trainers, and are incompetent in battling." William replied. "So, the Kanto League has decided to take the Gym away from them. Alright, that's the sentence, have a great evening. Gentlemen, take her away." He pointed to the two guards, who started to take a screaming and kicking Misty away.

The traitors tried to help Misty out, but was held back by a male Pyroar that was sent out by Kenta, a Gyarados by Ryoko, an Excadrill by Gou, and a Garchomp by Makoto.

"Don't interfere. You might get arrested as accomplices." Tenma warned.

"She better be grateful it isn't execution. Poaching of Pokemon, whether successful or not, is an automatic death sentence." Ran added.

All they could do was glare, which didn't faze the Zodiacs much.

Someone slapped a bracelet on Misty's wrist, she was then thrown into a cell, and the door closed and locked behind them.

One thing different from PAL cell to a normal one is there is no single cell (two people share one). Instead of bars at the door and window (for prisoners to look out of) there's instead a glass. However, this glass is special as even steel cannot break it. And if a prisoner is at the door or window for too long, they would be electrocuted by hidden wires that were concealed inside the door.

Also, there is no way to get out, as it is hard to dig the floor since it's filled with traps that would electrocute the prisoner once touched and would also send an alert to the security guard in the office. Food was also never sent through flaps. Instead, it was send through a chute connected to the kitchen. However, the chute is closed shut once the food is taken, and since the edges are sharp, placing a hand on the chute is dangerous, as it may cut one's hands off.

Food given is also down to a science. They are given enough to last for the next meal, no more, and no less. Serving size is dependent on the person's age, height, body type (or weight) and health. Food sharing is also not allowed. If the prisoners are caught doing that via the security camera, they would automatically get electrocuted by the bracelet they are forced to wear (it's in a bluish grey colour. They cannot take it off. Not even the security guards know how to work it off their wrist, as the only person who knows how to do this is Phillip.)

The prisoners are also watched 24/7, to make sure they do not do anything funny. They also have to be careful of what they say, as behaviour regulations are strict and if they are caught saying something bad about others, their bracelet would activate, electrocuting them.

They are never let out except for exercise in the plain grass fields. Trying to escape during this time is also no use, as all four sides are surrounded by fences and it is at least 35 feet tall. It is also topped with wicked coils of barbed wire and the base is lined with enormous metal plates. It is also electrified 24/7 in case anyone does try to climb them. Digging under them is also no use as they contain the same traps in the floor of the prison cells.

Showers are provided in the cell, which is why they never let them out of the cell for shower time (but it is very small- 3 feet by 4 feet, only slightly bigger than a typical toilet cubicle in other regions. The prisoners themselves have to make sure the bathroom is clean, as no one would clean it for them.)

No visits are allowed except for family members and also, whatever gifts they may send are checked for any weapons or something to help the prisoner escape before they are given to the prisoner.

Also, there is a rule that the security guards must not be hold any keys to the cell when patrolling the corridors outside the cell, and must leave it in the office. Anyone who fails this rule is instantly fired. It is also no use to fool the security cameras as Phillip modified them so it can have Night-Vision mode and X-Ray mode (where the security camera can see through the clothing of the security guard to see what is in their pockets.)

Entertainment is nearly zero, except for a very small TV in the corner of the cell that is turned to the news channel, as if to taunt the prisoners of what is happening without them.

"Ugh! This is so not fashionable!" Misty was looking into the mirror at her cell. She was wearing a drab grey outfit which is the typical prison uniform.

"I agree. I wonder what my fiancé would say about this." A haughty voice replied. Misty turned around at the familiar voice, and was looking at a copy of Jessie.

'Is that….Jessie?' Misty thought. 'No wait, that's Jessebelle.'

Prison life apparently did not suit Jessebelle, as instead of having elaborate curls on her hair, her hair was now lank and unkempt around her shoulders, she was missing some fake stones on her earrings, necklace is dirty and it looked like it hadn't been washed, and her nails were chipped. She was also wearing the prisoner outfit.

"Hey, I thought you look familiar. You're James' friend, aren't you?" Jessebelle said excitedly.

"Not really. I met him a few times when I was travelling." She replied dryly. "So what did you get in here for?"

"I got in here because I was trying to get my fiancé to marry me! I've went so far as to follow him here, and even sent love letters to him, but to no avail. I was angry when I found out he had married Jessie, and she's so ugly, can't he see I'm prettier? Out of love, I tried to get rid of Jessie, and I thought James would go to me when Jessie was incapacitated in hospital, but instead, he reported me and the Hunters arrested me, and they didn't listen when I said that they can't separate me from my love! I mean, James is supposed to be my husband! And…." Jessebelle was ranting on and on about James.

Misty sighed at her cellmate. This is going to be one long sentence.

* * *

Ash entered the dining room for dinner just in time to hear Jasmine shout, "I'm not the one sending the cards!" And he watched as she ran to the just arriving elevator, and a shocked and obviously hurt Phillip. Jude was standing at the side, shaking his head.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Ash asked, going to Phillip.

"I-I don't get it. I…" Phillip looked distraught.

"**Well, apparently, Phillip designed a computer program for Jasmine, and after the program finished, Jasmine asked if Phillip liked her, and before he could answer, Jude remarked that just because Jasmine sent him cards doesn't mean he should do this for her in return, and Jasmine thinks Phillip designed the computer program to mock her, so she ran off." **Emolga replied, glaring at Jude along with Dedenne.

"Jude! What'd you say that for?" Ash shouted.

"What? It's true! Phillip shouldn't be obligated to do this just because he knows Jasmine sent those cards!" Jude replied. "I mean, look at the program!"

Ash glared at him, but went to Phillip's laptop, and clicked on the program. The screen flickered for a second, before Ash saw what looked like an underwater scene with Gorebyss and Luvdisc swimming around, smiling at the watcher, and a pair of Luvdisc kissed. The picture then went upwards into a garden, and big fat red roses were blooming. Some of the roses had lost their petals, but it helped decorate the garden floor. A Roserade then appeared and used Petal Dance, and managed to manoeuvre the petals to read:

_Roses are Red  
Violets are Blue  
I don't know if you know this  
But I love you too_

The program ended and Ash blinked.

"I didn't do this because of obligation! I do this because I like her!" Phillip shouted for the first time, and looked extremely angry. Ash and Jude shuddered at the look in Phillip's eyes. If one were to rank the five of them according to how scary they look when angry, Phillip would be ranked just behind Pakura and Ash. In fact, right now, he looked like he was ready to murder Jude.

Phillip strode over to Jude, and grabbed him by the collar, ignoring Jude's protest, as he was injured from Phillip's attack earlier.

"Fix this!" Phillip hissed unconsciously giving Jude an electric shock with his ability. "Either you think up of a plan to fix this situation or I'll make sure what I do would be worse than the attack I did earlier!" He was shaking Jude vigorously.

"Phillip, stop. You're suffocating and electrocuting him, and he's injured." Ash said calmly.

Phillip then threw Jude off, causing him to fall to the ground.

"I won't say you don't deserve it, because you do." Ash glared at Jude. "I know you are worried for Phillip because of your ex, but I can assure you, Jasmine is nowhere like your ex. I read her heart and mind and I know she genuinely loves Phillip. Let's think of a plan while we have dinner."

"Where's Rosaline?" Jude groaned, getting up from the floor.

"Out on a dinner date with Grimsley, and Cynthia is now eating with her Sinnoh Elites, so it's just the three of us." Ash replied shortly, as the dinner was being served on the table.

* * *

"Well, I'm done with your dress, hair and makeup! You can get ready for the Contest now! It's down to the last 8 now, isn't it?" Aquamarine asked, as Pakura checked herself in the mirror. This time, she was wearing a pale pink strapless dress that brushed her heels and her hair was pinned back from her face and falling down her back in a shower of ringlets.

"Yeah, it's left with Zoey, Nando, Drew, Marina, Robert, Solidad, Ursula and someone called Yuma." Pakura ticked them off. "Zoey will battle Ursula, Nando with Solidad, Marina with Drew, and Yuma with Robert."

"What do you think of those Coordinators?" Aquamarine asked.

Pakura shrugged. "Except for Nando and Ursula, the rest are Top Coordinators. They must have some skill if they can win a Grand Festival." With that, she took a basket, and made her way to the Contest Hall. Pakura sat down next to the stage, and let all her Pokémon on hand out.

"Well, help yourself." She said, as she opened the basket to reveal Poképuffs. Her Pokémon cheered, took a Poképuff each and started devouring them with gusto.

"**Is that Steven and Wallace over there?"** Eevee asked, pointing a paw.

Pakura turned, and raised her eyebrows when she saw Steven Stone, the Kanto Champion and the heir to Devon Cooperation, one of the most successful companies in Hoenn. He was walking towards the stage with Wallace, chatting about the tournament, and expressing his excitement about the upcoming battles. Wallace himself was also talking about the PAL Contest being just as exciting as a Grand Festival in the regions. Pakura remembered that when she checked his database, he had more Rock-type than Steel types, and wondered why he was a Steel-type specialist. Had he not been Champion, she would've overlooked him as he never interacted much with Ash or the others.

Steven seemed to sense something, and turned to see Pakura.

"Hello, Princess Pakura." Steven greeted her.

"Hi, Pakura." Wallace smiled at her.

"Champion Steven, Champion Wallace." Pakura replied coolly.

"Great dress you have there." Wallace complimented. "Don't you think so?" He asked Steven.

"Yeah, you look beautiful." Steven agreed.

Pakura nodded her thanks.

"Oh yeah, you both don't really know each other, and this is the first time you meet each other outside of the tournament. Pakura, this is Steven, a good friend of mine. In fact, he used to be Hoenn Champion before he gave the position to me as he wanted to travel the world. He's now the current Kanto Champion." Wallace introduced.

"Pleasure to meet you." Steven smiled at her.

Pakura nodded curtly.

"What are those?" Steven asked, pointing to the contents of Pakura's basket.

"They are traditional sweets for Pokémon, called Poképuffs." Wallace explained. "Steven, do you know she's excellent in making Pokémon desserts such as Pokéblocks, Poffins and Poképuffs? My Milotic tried her Poképuffs the other day and loved it.

"No way! I thought your Milotic is very fussy!" Steven gasped.

Pakura vaguely remembered during the Top 32, she was feeding her on hand Pokémon some Poképuffs and their Pokémon wanting to try them. As she had extra, she had agreed, and all their Pokémon enjoyed it immensely, even Wallace's Milotic. It never occurred to her that Wallace's Milotic was very choosy.

"Can my Pokémon try some of those?" Steven enquired hopefully.

"Oh! My Pokémon too!" Wallace added. "My Milotic would love more of your Poképuffs."

Pakura wordlessly handed the basket over to Steven, who let his Pokémon out to try them, along with Wallace. Much to Steven's amazement, his and Wallace's Pokémon all loved the dessert.

"You'd make an ideal wife, Pakura." Wallace joked, watching his Milotic gobble up its Poképuff.

"I'm not looking for a date or marriage if that's what you're talking about." Pakura replied curtly. 'Although earlier in the day, Lance had the thought of asking me out, as the Dragon Princess. Oh, great. The Johto Champion's attention is on me now. What am I going to do?'

"Guess what?" Steven said, sitting down next to Pakura. "There's some news I heard over dinner today."

Pakura raised her eyebrow, and waited for Steven to talk.

"I hear Karen has a crush on Jude. She came to the Tower looking quite upset, and when we asked what happened, she told the story of what happened with Jude. Do you know why Jude is, you know, being a jerk?" Steven asked.

"Jude has always been wary of girls, actually." Pakura replied dryly.

"Do you know why?" Wallace enquired.

"I don't think it's my place to tell, but let's just say he used to date." Pakura answered.

Wallace and Steven looked at each other. Something bad must've had happened to Jude, judging by Pakura's tone.

Steven decided to change subject. "Anyway besides that, I think Lance has a crush on a girl."

"Really? How did you know?" Wallace's eyes lit up at the new-found gossip.

"He was caught daydreaming during dinner." Steven grinned. "So when we asked why he was daydreaming and joked if he was daydreaming about a girl, his face got even redder than his hair! Man, I thought he'd be a lonely singleton forever, seeing he doesn't really notice girls since he thinks they are after his looks and fame."

"And then what happened?" Wallace asked eagerly.

"Bruno then said 'I knew it! Lance likes a girl!' and we, meaning the Kanto and Johto Elite, tried to find out who she was and Lance was trying to deny but well, his blushing and his body language says otherwise."

"What was he doing?" Wallace enquired.

Steven laughed. "In the end, he ran into his room to finish his dinner, and refused to come out since."

"Sucks for the the girl he likes. Wonder who's the unlucky person?" Wallace wondered.

"You can be assured it isn't Pakura." Steven said. "The other day, he said you had no feelings like a robot!"

"Oh yeah, and he said you were a stuck-up diva who must've gotten a stick up your ass." Wallace added. "He needs to get over that incident."

Pakura shrugged, indicating she doesn't care, and Steven decided to change the subject to Mega Evolution, hoping to learn more about it from her, and much to Steven's delight, she was willing to tell him more about it, and answer his questions.

* * *

"Metagross, use Rock Tomb, followed by Earthquake!" Jasmine ordered. Her Metagross obeyed, and used Rock Tomb to confine the wild Klinklang, and the Eathquake finished it off, as it fell to the ground, fainted.

"Pokéball, go!" Jasmine threw a Pokéball at the Klinklang, and the Pokéball shook once, twice, and then it locked, signalling the capture was successful.

"Alright, my second Pokémon caught. I look forward to training with both of you, Klinklang, Scizor." Jasmine smiled at her Pokéballs containing her new Pokémon.

She heard clapping, and she turned to see Jude along with his Pokémon. Surprisingly, Liepard wasn't with him.

"Hey, Jasmine." Jude said, once they made eye contact.

"What do you want?" Jasmine asked, glaring at him.

"There's something I want to give you. Would you follow me for a bit?" Jude offered.

Jasmine looked at him warily.

"No, really, I want to apologize." Jude replied sincerely. "And I want to give a, you know, apology present. Please?"

"Fine." Jasmine bit out, and she followed Jude back to the Tower, and into the elevator. She watched as he removed a panel containing a keypad, and he typed something inside. Once he was done, the doors closed as usual, but Jasmine found the elevator going downwards, which comes as a shock to her. The doors opened to a gym containing all sorts of weapons.

She followed him to a cupboard, and he opened to reveal various Mega Stones. There were labels to tell the name of the Mega Stones. He then went to take one, and presented it to Jasmine

"Here. I think you are ready to Mega Evolve more of your Pokémon. This is a Metagrossite…" He then handed Jasmine the Mega Stone, before taking another from the storage. "This is a Mawilite…" He then gave her the said Mega Stone, and then showed her a third one. "Finally, this one is a Lucarionite. Don't be surprised at how I know your entire team, I did research." He smiled at her surprised look.

"I….I don't know what to say." Jasmine said, looking down at her Mega Stones.

"I just want you to use it well." Jude placed a hand at her shoulder. "I know you can do it. And I'm sorry, really."

"Thank you, Jude." Jasmine said softly.

"Now, come on." Jasmine nodded, and followed him back to the elevator, but once they got in, Jude jammed the elevator.

"Jude?" Jasmine said tentatively.

"I don't want anyone to disturb us that was why I jammed it." Jude reached up to his hair and removed his wig, revealing brown hair.

"Phillip?" Jasmine was shocked.

"Jasmine, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry today." Phillip said.

"Not at all, it wasn't…." Jasmine trailed off.

"The thing is….I know it was you, who sent me those cards." Phillip held up two cards on his hand.

Jasmine's eyes filled with tears, as she looked down to the floor. "You did?"

"Of course I did. Ash told me." Phillip answered. Jasmine looked up at him, surprised.

"Ash told you?" Jasmine sounded incredulous.

"Yeah, I would've figured it out myself sooner or later. Ash just made it unnecessary."

"Did Pakura tell him?" Jasmine asked.

Phillip looked thoughtful. "I'm sure Pakura did not tell him, so my deduction is Ash read her mind and got the information out, and told me. But that's not important."

"I'll kill him." Jasmine mumbled.

Phillip reached out and grabbed her shoulders. "Jasmine, it doesn't matter. What matters is I really meant what I wrote. I just want to know if you did too."

"Of course I meant it." Jasmine said, her voice small.

"You really thought I was mocking you, huh?" Phillip guessed.

Jasmine nodded.

"Then remember this: I'll never do that, because I love you."

And that was when he did it, without any permission, any fuss, and without any hesitation: He kissed her right on the lips.

* * *

"Well, it worked." Ash nodded in relief, looking through the screen that is showing what hidden camera located at the elevator is recording at the moment. He and Jude were in the Tower's security room (located at their floor) seeing if Jude's plan would work.

"Good for him." Jude replied, watching the scene briefly, before looking away.

"Of course, you still need to apologize to Jasmine next time you see her." Ash folded his arms. "It's still an insensitive remark."

"Fine." Jude grumbled, as he fiddled with his black ear studs.

"I still think you need to get over the Lacey thing, you know. You really should start dating again, maybe there is someone somewhere who would like you for who you are. Just like how I found Cynthia, Rosaline found Grimsley, and Phillip now having Jasmine. I mean, you are our Elite's socialite. You have a charming personality. You radiate life, is self-effacing and an easy going nature. Not to mention, you are a little flirty, which just adds to your good looks. Who wouldn't love someone like that?" Ash said, as he took his glass from the table and sipped his orange juice.

Jude sighed. "Yeah, but for some reason, I feel like I'm forgetting something in my life, or rather, someone. I've been feeling like this lately and I am getting uneasy. Phillip himself regained a memory, and I don't want to concentrate on my social life until these mysteries are solved and we get our answers and find out what is really missing."

"I see." Ash said. "Do you think what you are missing is the girl Phillip was talking about that appeared in his memory?"

"Maybe. I wonder who she is, though." Jude scratched his head. "Whoever she was, must've loved us a lot, in a friendly way, you know."

"Right. And you are wondering what had happened as this…friendship was broken." Ash acknowledged.

"I sure know, alright. I am very sure Benzene, our previous manager has something to do with it, just that I don't know how."

"Don't worry, we will find out soon. For now, just rest up for your match tomorrow, you're probably tired from training earlier I know Lance is no pushover." Ash advised.

"Could tell." Jude mumbled. "What are you going to do?"

"I'll be going outside." Ash replied. "See if I can find out more clues to the mystery."

* * *

"**Psst! Ash!" **Pikachu whispered.

"What?" Ash whispered back.

"**Look over there. It's Cynthia and Pakura." **Pikachu pointed to the right, where a Pokémon battle was taking place.

'Weird. Why would Paku be willing to spend time with people? She isn't the type to do this…' Ash concealed his presence, as he knew that Pakura would be able to sense him otherwise, and crept closer to the scene.

"Glaceon, finish it one more time with Ice Beam!" Cynthia commanded. Glaceon obeyed, and fired the said move to a wild Aerodactyl.

The Aerodactyl dodged the Ice Beam and hit Glaceon with an Ancient Power. Glaceon fell to the ground, and the wild Aerodactyl prepared to fire a Dragon Pulse at Glaceon.

"Glaceon, Water Pulse!" Cynthia said, and both attacks clashed together, causing an explosion.

"Now, use Ice Shard!" Glaceon nodded, and fired multiple shards of ice from his mouth at Aerodactyl. The wild Aerodactyl turned its head away from the Ice Shard as it took damage. Cynthia then took this opportunity to finish Aerodactyl off with Blizzard, and the wild Aerodactyl fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

Cynthia then took out an empty Pokéball, and threw it at the fainted Aerodactyl. The Pokéball shook twice before locking, signalling the capture was a success.

"Alright!" Cynthia was ecstatic to get yet another Pokémon. "Wow, PAL sure has a lot of wild Pokémon that is rare in our regions."

"That is what we are known for." Pakura said. She was at the side watching Cynthia trying to catch the wild Aerodactyl. "You did well in training, Cynthia. You sure have good reflexes, dodging the balls I aimed at you, and they were pretty fast too. Not to mention you can swing the sword well enough to slice through most of the projectiles. You sure you are ok?"

"I'm fine. If you can endure these injuries, so can I." Cynthia waved dismissively.

"That's the spirit. Oh, before we call it a night, I'd like to give you something." Pakura said, reaching into her pocket, and pulled out two Mega Stones and a Pokéball. "These Mega Stones are called Lucarionite and Aerodactylite. I figure you might want to try Mega Evolution with other Pokémon besides your partner Garchomp. From what I know Grimsley was given his Key Stone and his Mega Stones earlier in the day by Rosaline, probably during their date before I ran into them. Jasmine also got her Mega Stones as well." Pakura shrugged.

Cynthia nodded and opened the Pokéball that Pakura gave her, and it was revealed to be a Hydreigon.

"Isn't this…" Cynthia trailed off.

"I caught it earlier when it was rampaging in the forest." Pakura explained. "Gave me a headache, that one." She neglected to mention that she was with Lance when it happened. "I'm not really fond of Dragon Pokémon so I figure you might want it."

"I'll train it well. Thanks for everything." Cynthia smiled. "Good luck for the Top 16."

"Yeah, you too." Pakura nodded, and Cynthia left. After Cynthia left, Pakura yawned, and said, "Let's go." to her Pokémon, and headed back to the Tower herself.

"There's nothing suspicious about her at all." Ash sighed.

"**Are you sure it's not because she sensed you, even though you concealed your aura?"** Lucario raised his eyebrows.

'Lucario is right. Even if I conceal my aura, it's likely Pakura is able to sense me, and in turn, she might be cautious about dropping her act even when it seems as though no one is watching her.' Ash thought.

"Hey, Ash! Why are you standing there, daydreaming?" A voice asked.

Ash turned around, and saw Gary and Paul staring at him.

"Gary! Paul! What are you doing out here so late?" Ash asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, Ashy-boy." Gary pointed out.

"Yeah, when it comes to finding you, you may as well be a Mew, as you choose to reveal yourself only when you want to." Paul grumbled.

Ash laughed sheepishly. "Sorry, I've been really busy with my duties."

"That's fine." Paul shrugged. "As of why we are here, we were looking for you to ask what Misty's sentence was, and how you are getting with the whole mystery thing that is endangering everyone. I hear Leader Clair got sent to the hospital, what happened?"

"I don't know, but I'm almost sure it is the Dragon Princess' doing. And I think I'm getting closer to the answer for the mystery thing."

"Didn't the Dragon Duo disappear like five years ago?" Gary asked. "At least that was what rumours said."

Ash realized he had forgotten to mention the suspect to them, and decided to tell them more about the Dragon Princess.

"She sounds dangerous." Gary said.

"Yeah, but remember what Arceus said about this person?" Ash reminded them. "She was just like me, who lost friends and loved ones, and Arceus implied she been through worse. I think I've seen snippets of her past through dreams, and none of them were exactly happy moments."

"Did you find out the identity of the Dragon Princess?" Paul enquired.

Ash hesitated. Should he tell them he suspected his own Leader? After a thought, he decided not to, wanting to end this by himself.

"No, I didn't but when I do find answers, I'll tell you."

Paul and Gary nodded.

"Oh yeah, what sentence did Misty get?" Gary asked eagerly. "Did anything happen after that?"

Ash snickered. "Well, she got…." And he proceeded to tell them.

If one has enhanced hearing like the PAL Elites, one may hear the laughter in the forest.

* * *

"That was one eventful day." Ash yawned, as he climbed into the bed with his pyjamas. He had felt much better after talking to Paul and Gary. "I almost forgot to spend time with friends, being busy and all. Once this mysteries end, I'll spend more time with them." He declared.

"**Good idea." **Pikachu replied.

"Goodnight Pikachu, Lucario." Ash bade.

"**Good night, Ash." **They said in unison.

* * *

"_It's nice to be in the same room once in a while to spend time. Goodness knows with our duties as Elite members, jobs as Hunter, and other stuff they ask us to help out with, we almost have no time for ourselves. But I'm sure you got it worse, with the paperwork you have to do and parties and events you have to attend, and get to know all the prominent people. Don't you think?" Rosaline asked, as she turned on to a game show called "Are you smarter than a fifth grader?"_

_Pakura, who was feeding her Pokémon Poképuffs, stayed silent. _

"_Couldn't you answer me for once? You…." She trailed off, before her head dropped down limply. _

"_Rosaline? Are you alright?" Pakura rushed over to lean Rosaline's head back, only for her mouth to drop open when Rosaline's eyes looked dull, which meant she was in a trance._

_Rosaline unconsciously opened her mouth and said, "The Cursed Child lies alone and friendless, forced to sacrifice her happiness to protect the ones she love, but eventually love turned to hate. She stays quiet and tranquil, striking out every now and then. The Fire to Ice breaks the rule given to them after the last sixteen standing battle for their place, and found out a secret she must never know, and would alert the attention of the other members of her team. The Cursed Child would lash out at them, and they would be pushed to incapacitation. The Chosen One will chase her down on his own, and realize who was behind everything, and see something unexpected. He takes her on, and is forced to protect the Dragon Master at the same time. The Child will protect what she was carrying, even willing to throw her life to make sure it never got tainted. The Prince would give the answers, but a heavy price must be paid, and the Chosen One would have to make a final choice: To spare, or to kill."_

_The tone she said the prophecy was a serious tone, quite a contrast to the cheerful tone she usually had. _

"_A prophecy." Pakura whispered. As Rosaline shook her head, apparently trying to shake the trance out, Pakura quickly went over to give Rosaline a chop on the neck, which knocked her unconscious, causing her to slump across the couch._

_Once Rosaline was unconscious, Pakura sat next to her, thoughtful. _

"_**It looks like Ash is the Chosen One the prophecy is referring to."**__ Sylveon said. _

"_Indeed." Pakura replied. "And according to the prophecy, it looks like Ash is going to win the Elite challenge, thus becoming Champion. If not, how else would he be able to attend the Pokémon World Championship, seeing he is branded as missing? But, there is no way I'll let them find out about my secrets." With that, she stood up, heading to her room, her Pokémon following her. "You know I'd do absolutely anything to keep my secret."_

Ash woke up, panting. He recited the prophecy in his mind.

'There's no mistake. Pakura is the Dragon Princess.' Ash thought. 'And I'll get my answers as to why Paku is deliberately causing danger to everyone. Last sixteen standing….tomorrow is the Top 16 battles. Everything would end tomorrow.'

**BP: And that's the end of chapter 13! (Please read everything, it's important. Underlined are questions to help me with my upcoming stories) **

**And next chapter, is the finale of Season 1! Next chapter's main focus is Pakura, as the story behind the Dragon Duo and her past is revealed, and what really happened when she joined the Elite, which would of course, end Season 1 as the mysteries are solved and Ash and the Elite (alongside a few others) would finally understand her motive behind, and why she caused everyone a lot of trouble. **

**Also, some Pokémon shown in the PokéVision videos belong to Shiki. Just that the Johto guests do not know this. More than half the Pokémon Pakura has right now was originally Shiki's.**

**To clarify, yes, Ash is taking Pakura on his own. **

**Yeah, since I figure Pakura is a femme fatale, I figure she shouldn't be a virgin, and yes, she was a minor when it happened, but she chose not to report because the person is question (for those who didn't figure out) was Shiki. However, it was also an accident. **

**I wonder if Lance's crush on her should be one-sided or reciprocated. I'm still thinking. Do give me your opinions.**

**And yes, I know Steven and Wallace sound like they are gossiping like schoolgirls, it's a reference to my male friends, who actually do gossip like that. Besides, I am sure boys do talk about things they hear as well. **

**I wrote a deleted scene of what actually happened, and if you wish me to post this deleted scene (rated M), please leave me a PM or a review. Man, I never heard the end of it from my classmates ever since I posted Persuasion. They are reading my stories out loud which I hated, and they are laughing about it. Wrong move to tell them my username. **

**And I'll let you readers decide on Pakura's fate and punishment (if you want her to be punished) If you wish to give suggestions on her punishment you can leave them in the reviews! Next chapter would have a list of options on what her fate should be for the purpose of Season 2. (So look forward to it)**

**No questions for next chapter, because It's ending Season one, but I do need your help so I can start on my upcoming stories: **

**A (Unlikely) Second Chance at Life: Six regions. There is an evil scientist who wants to rule over all of them. What does he do? Persuade the Hunters Association that he can find five competent people to act as the Elite Four and Champion to compete in the Pokémon World Tournament that is going to be held in this region, of course. But how to find them all in time? Resurrect five famed and powerful people with the new serum that he created to bring people back to life and use them as his pawns. **

**Which five? They are Ash Ketchum, Pakura Ameyuri, Rosaline Pyra, Jude Harrison and Phillip Robinson. Their mission? Assassinate the regional Champions, and take over their positions during the tournament, as it is known that the Champions have the highest power in the respective regions. Simple right? But the scientist never counted on the fact that the five, who retained their personality and memory, would start resisting his control, and fall in love….**

**Questions to help me start: **

**1\. Spoiler alert: The traitors killed Ash six years ago, that was why he's dead. Should the traitors be caught immediately after Ash was killed, and executed, or should they get away with it, and be caught and executed later? **

**2\. Pairings (of course!) for A (Unlikely) Second Chance at Life (this time, you can give suggestions on all 5, and no, it doesn't have to be the pairing in the original story (meaning the story I am writing now). (Note: Pakura married Shiki in the Hall of Origins before she was resurrected. Would you prefer she returns to her husband, or she finds love while she was brought back to life? If it's the former, tell me who you want her to be with, since technically, when resurrected, she is widowed.)**

**3\. Should Serena, Bonnie and Clemont know Ash? If yes, who betrayed him and who didn't? If no, should they still be in the story? And how would they be in the story?**

**4\. Should Pakura be a famed Pokémon Performer (Kalos Queen) before she died? **

**And here's an excerpt from the AV story of Ash x Pakura! Yes, I've started writing it. **

"_**The Champions Tournament?" Ash asked the girl. "What's that?"**_

"_**Once every few years, the Champions of each region gather in Driftveil City in Unova and compete to see who is the strongest. It's like a get together for the Champions, you know. Only this time, it's to advertise the Pokémon World Championship that is to be held in our region, Ash." The girl replied. **_

"_**So, what does this got to do with us?" Ash raised his eyebrow. **_

"_**They are short one player in the tournament so they requested us to send one of us down so they have enough competitors." **_

"_**Who are the competitors?" Ash asked nonchalantly. **_

"_**Steven, Lance, Wallace, Cynthia, Alder, Iris and Diantha." The girl reported. "Alder may have lost his position as Champion to Iris, but he was the only one who once held the Champion status, which is why he is in too." **_

_**Ash narrowed his eyes. "Did you just say Iris?" He hissed.**_

"_**Yes, apparently she was recently crowned the Unova Champion after defeating Alder." The girl answered. "So who should we send out into the Champions Tournament?" **_

_**Ash thought carefully, and said, "(insert name here) will go to represent our region." **_

"_**Are you sure?" The girl asked. **_

"_**Yes." Ash replied, waving the girl off. "Also, (insert name here) will wear a disguise, because we must not reveal our identities until the Pokémon World Championship starts. Phlox's orders." **_

"_**Very well." The girl nodded.**_

**Questions to help me to finish chapter 1 (will be posted after I post chapter 14 of this story):**

**1\. Who do you want to send out to compete in this Tournament (hence the insert name here part in the excerpt. It's mainly off screen, as most action is in the Pokémon World Championship but still….I want to make this as different from the original as possible. Yes, you can vote for Ash as well if you want.)**

**2\. Should Pakura be a Pokémon Performer and win the title of Kalos Queen, as Kalos is included in this? And should PAL have a Pokémon Showcase of their own? **

**3\. Assuming Ash doesn't know Bonnie, Serena and Clemont (story takes place after BW series like original, how do you want me to include them in (if you want in, if you don't you can tell me as well)**

**4\. And finally, pairings! (Besides Ash and Pakura, since they would be lovers in this story) **

**Oh just a little warning: This Ash x Pakura story is not for Cynthia fans! My advice is to not read it if you like Cynthia. **

**And finally, my third upcoming story, the High School Version of PAL! **

**PAL Academy: School reopens as usual after summer vacation. Ash, a student in the High School Division who is also the new Student Council President, and the youngest in the top Advanced class (which means he's among the Elite) in school, returns to another school year with his four friends (I think we all know who it is). His school life is of course, fun, but it's also anything but normal when he's the most popular boy in school, one of the people behind the websites to help students with their various problems, captain of many CCAs (Co-Curricular Activities), and many more that keeps his school life busy. **

**Question: **

**1\. Pairings you want to see in PAL Academy (yes you can suggest on all five). (No Harem or more than one lover, I'm bad at those) **

**2\. Shiki is alive in this story. I'm toying between the idea of him being her brother and her love interest. Should he be Pakura's brother and she gets together with someone else, or a student that later becomes her lover? What do you think? **

**Sorry for asking so much questions, but I'm writing the first chapter of these stories and I need help from my readers, you see. I'll post them as soon as I finish chapter 14.**

**So Pairings for the three story: The Second Chance at Life has unknown pairings (unless you count Shiki x Pakura, but she's resurrected and he isn't), decided via readers' suggestions  
The one with the excerpt (unknown title) : AV which is definitely Ash x Pakura. Questions asked are above.  
PAL Academy: Unknown pairings, can decide for all five **

**Do share ideas, I write based on reader's suggestions, they helped me a lot! Thank you.**

**Do favourite, follow and review!**


	14. Season 1 finale: Fall of the PAL Elite

**BP: This is it, the finale of Season 1! And what had happened to Pakura when she was a child, her life before she became an Elite, the circumstances behind Shiki's death (By now all of you should know he's dead), and the answers as to why she attacked Clair. **

**So therefore the latter half of this chapter is Pakura centric. **

Ash wondered if he should go out of his room to talk to Pakura. He was sure she was in the living room, reading a magazine or a book, waiting to talk to him about his dreams. However, now that he knew she was the Dragon Princess, and also the one behind all the messages and attacks (and how she had access to the Tower is a no brainer: it's because she resides in the Tower) he had to be careful of what he said around her.

On the other hand, he might learn something as he always does with his talk with her. This thought made Ash get out of the bed, and head to the living room. Surprisingly, she wasn't there, but he heard stirrings in the kitchen. Sure enough, Pakura was there, making some hot chocolate, judging by the smell that was emitted as she was making the said drink. The smell of the hot chocolate relaxed Ash slightly.

"Can't sleep again?" Pakura asked, not turning to look at him. Ash supposed she sensed him coming in as he was sure that his footsteps were completely silent.

"Yeah." Ash replied, sitting on a nearby chair.

"Want some hot chocolate? I hear the drink is perfect before you go to sleep." Pakura offered.

"Sure." Ash shrugged, and Pakura promptly placed a mug of hot chocolate on the table, which was probably meant for herself but she gave it to Ash first. She then started making another cup for herself.

"Uh….Paku." Ash said, as he sipped the hot, sweet, creamy liquid. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure." Pakura replied, though she didn't exactly sound like she was in the mood. "What?"

"Uh…." Well, she did tell him that he could talk to her about anything. He took another sip of the hot chocolate to help him pluck up the courage to ask her the question he wanted to ask. "How old were you the first time you had sex?"

"Had a dream about me, didn't you?" Pakura asked rhetorically.

"Something like that." Ash mumbled, drinking his hot chocolate to hide his embarrassment.

"So, what did you dream about? I promise I won't be mad." Pakura coaxed.

Ash frowned. He already knew she was the Dragon Princess and she was involved in the dream anyway, since it's part of her past, and decided to tell her everything.

Pakura nodded at the end of the story. "Well, I guess it won't hurt to tell you."

Ash gulped, as he waited for Pakura's answer.

He fully expected her to say that she was at least 16, but then her answer made him choke on his hot chocolate.

"I think I was around….13?" Pakura said. "I first had sex around 7 years ago."

"But whoever did it with you could've been arrested for rape!" Ash was shocked.

"Could've been, if I reported." Pakura admitted dryly. "I didn't, since I forgave him. Looking back, I was glad I was the one he targeted, because had he targeted someone else, I would've lost my fiancé. And we've been doing this pretty regularly, actually."

Ash spluttered. "I…the…." He couldn't form a sentence due to the fact that he was too shocked.

Pakura mistook his shock for something else.

"Well, we are safe anyway. Neither of us has been with anyone else, and I was on the Pill."

"Er….ok…..well, see you tomorrow!" He grabbed the mug, and rushed back to his room, leaving Pakura to give him a funny look, as if wondering why he was overreacting.

'Hmm….I never thought of what happened for a long time.' Pakura thought dreamily, sitting down with her mug and started to think of what had happened that night.

* * *

Ash slammed the door, and drank the hot chocolate to relieve his shock. How could Pakura tell him so nonchalantly about how she left her virginity back with the Dragon Prince and at such an early age without flinching?

He took a deep breath to force himself to calm down. At least something made sense.

Now he thought of it, last year, she took him to the Pink Pussycat Boutique, as she felt he was dense in the dating stuff, and needed educating in that department. He did learn a LOT from her alright, including stuff about…sex, as he at first thought that the boutique was a clothing shop for women, but now he thought of it, the boutique was some sort of sex shop, as he remembered all the sexy women's clothing that was sold that is definitely not to be worn in public (he did ask her why it was sold if it isn't supposed to be worn in public, but Pakura said that some women just likes attention).

She talked about the topic so casually while they looked around the shop he thought she just wanted to take him shopping, as she did make a purchase in the form of a black Hello Kitty personal massager.

He remembered how she also talked about how she used to be a party girl before he became Champion, where she is supposed to wear designer dresses, socialize with the other party members, especially guys, and party like a rock star, which to him sounded like a fun job. He thought she had enjoyed it as she mentioned she gained a lot of from it. However, when he had looked up party girl in the dictionary, there were two meanings: a physically attractive young woman hired to attend parties and entertain men, or a prostitute. He wondered if she really did spread her legs for the clients her manager sold her to, or did she somehow keep her dignity? He was very sure the latter happened, but with what she had told him tonight, he was unsure of what really happened when she was sold to her clients.

'Wait, now I think of it, when I dreamt of her in the library, her body definitely didn't look like a typical 13-year-old's when Shiki made her strip to her underwear.' Ash thought. 'Her body looked more like a teenager's, or a young adults, and she definitely already reached sexual maturity by the looks of it. I do know for one people generally don't reach that stage until they are at least 15. And if Paku says she did it like 7 years ago, which means she must be at least 22 years old by now, and not 20.'

At least the age thing for the Dragon Princess issue made sense now, as Pakura's actual age is most likely 22-23, and taking away 20 years, she must've been 2-3 years when she was given away, and that is the age of a toddler. So Lance wasn't wrong. He wondered if Pakura knew her actual age, and lied to everyone, or she genuinely didn't know.

'Oh well, I might find out tomorrow.' Ash thought, as he fell into an uneasy slumber.

Tonight, he had another nightmare. He was running along the Pallet Town, which was on fire, and found Gary lying on the ground with a wound in his stomach. Ash ran to try and help him, but Gary weakly shook his head, and pointed to something behind him, before dying. Ash turned and saw Shiki with a bloodied sword behind him. Shiki used telekinesis to lift him up as Ash struggled, but his telekinesis was too strong. Shiki came closer and was ready to thrust the sword at him, when he yelled himself awake, which of course awoken Pikachu and Lucario.

It was too close to dawn to bother trying to get back to sleep, so he just simply went to the bathroom to brush his teeth, grab an outfit from the closet and put it on, before going down the hall to the dining room to set breakfast for his Pokémon, and get his own breakfast. He noted Pakura's Pokémon were already eating breakfast.

Someone, probably Pakura, had set the table with fake sunflowers in the middle of the table in a yellow vase, and he knew she was trying to cheer him up, and probably gotten up really early (or never slept at all) to do it as well. Ash appreciated the gesture made by his best friend, but he wondered if it was another trick from her, as he shovelled some French toast on his plate and took a bite. But he may as well be eating cardboard, he was that anxious. As he drank his orange juice, the door opened, and Jude came out carrying some files, his Liepard walking besides him.

"Morning." Jude greeted him.

"Hey, Jude." Ash said. "What have you got there?"

"Just some list on the Pokémon supplies I am going to add to my shop, you know. Remember the back part of the store was full of empty shelves? I am going to stock them with Pokémon supplies." Jude replied, as he let out his Pokémon and set up breakfast. "Maybe I'll add some books on caring for Pokémon as well."

"Great idea." Ash nodded. "What else?"

"I'm getting the winner of the upcoming fashion contest to help advertise my store. After all, in addition to being the main judge, I'm also the sponsor, and also running this event since I came up with the idea. I asked Rosaline to help me design the ad the other day, and the ad's already in the local paper."

Ash nodded in approval. Jude sure knows how to run his store well. "How many people signed for this contest thing so far?"

Jude opened one of the files. "We have over a hundred people who had signed up already. Including the two cheap entertainers from the club Jessie and James went."

'I almost forgot I wanted to get either Paku or Rosaline to investigate that nightclub. What was the name of that club again? Oh yeah, Club Heaven. I'll get one of them to investigate after this mysteries thing ends.' Ash thought, but was interrupted by Jude talking about the upcoming stock of Pokémon food.

"Also, the PokéChow would be sold by type and also there are different sizes of the bag of the PokéChow too. In addition to single type ones, there would also be combinations, for example PokéChow for Pokémon of the Bug/Flying type, and I'll be stocking all the different known combinations a Pokémon has. I have the entire list of combinations of all the Pokémon and are stocking up accordingly. I'll stock more for those more common type combinations, and less for the unique ones."

"Maybe you should save a few shelves for the Pokéblocks, Poffins and the Poképuffs too." Ash suggested.

"I know, but the only person who knows how to make them and knows the recipe would be Pakura. I doubt she'd help me out." Jude sighed.

"Hey, if you don't ask you'll never know." Ash shrugged. "So why are you so afraid of asking her anyway?"

"Because the early parts when she became Elite, countless times we asked her to join us in our activities, but there was a few seconds of silence before she says no. She always says no." Jude replied.

"Did you just say she stayed silent for a few seconds?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, why?" Jude answered.

"Normally, Paku would promptly answer. For her to hesitate, well, I think she wanted to say yes, but something was holding her back from saying it, you know." Ash replied thoughtfully. "So maybe your manager threatened her or something, assuming that time your manager was still Benzene."

"It was alright." Jude muttered darkly. "He just blindly accepts meetings and interviews with us for him to look good. But what you said does make sense, now I think of it." He wondered if the girl Phillip remembered in the recently regained memory was Pakura.

'Just what is our relationship with Pakura?' Jude thought.

"Anyway, I think we ought to concentrate on the Top 16 for now." Ash suggested. "Eat up. You'll need the energy to command your Pokémon later."

Just as he finished his sentence, the elevator dinged, and Cynthia stepped out.

"Good morning." Ash got up, wrapped and arm around her waist and gave her a kiss on the cheek. It seemed like a century since they went on a date or showed affection, but it was due to the mysteries that threw everyone in danger and Ash was busy trying to find clues as to who it was so they can end this as soon as possible.

"Why wasn't it on the lips?" Cynthia mock-pouted.

"Well, we have an audience." Ash replied, gesturing to Jude, who rolled his eyes playfully, turned his back and said, "I didn't see anything."

"Come on, once on the lips?" Cynthia begged.

Ash sighed, but smiled at Jude's antics. "Fine." Ash replied, and promptly went to do the deed. The kiss relaxed Ash, and somewhat assured him that everything is going to be alright.

"Better." Cynthia nodded when they broke the kiss, satisfied. "What's for breakfast?"

"Why don't we take a look? I recommend the waffles, though." Ash said, as he led her to the dining table, but he was interrupted by another elevator ding, and turned to see Jasmine and Grimsley coming in. Grimsley's Eevee was on his shoulder.

Ash gave Jude a look, and Jude sighed but nodded, going over to Jasmine to apologize.

"What did your Elites say about your new Eevee?" Cynthia asked Grimsley.

"Shauntal couldn't stop coddling it, Caitlin was envious I had obtained an Eevee, and Marshal said congrats to me." Grimsley ticked it off with his fingers. "What's the fuss about one little Eevee anyway?"

"Everyone do like a baby Pokémon, I guess." Ash said. "Also, everyone knows Eevee is a very popular Pokémon among trainers." Just as he said this, Rosaline came out of her room with her Espeon along with Phillip and his Emolga. Phillip was yawning.

"Also, it's very difficult to find a wild Eevee in the regions, but next time, tell Caitlin that a wild Eevee or Eeveelution isn't very difficult to find in our region if she looks hard enough." Rosaline added, giving Grimsley a good morning hug.

Just then, there was yet another ding in the elevator, and Pakura stepped in, carrying a brown file.

"What's that?" Ash asked.

"Another mission from the Hunter's Association." Pakura flipped through the pages.

"Who do you have to kill this time?" Phillip enquired.

Her answer stopped everyone cold. "Hunter J."

Ash choked on his orange juice, and Cynthia petted him on the back, but looked grim. "She's alive?" According to Gary, the ship that she was in was hit by two blue lightning bolts, and her ship crashed into Lake Valor and was sucked into a whirlpool while she and her crew members were still on board. Shortly after, there was an explosion, presumably the ship exploding. So how could she have survived?

As if Pakura read his mind, she said, "It isn't very difficult to escape from an explosion when you have a Pokémon that knows Teleport. I have a hunch that she used one of the Pokémon she forcibly controlled to use teleport to get her out of there and left her crew mates behind."

"How do you know all of these?" Ash asked.

"The Zodiacs found debris from the ship in Lake Valor, and Virgo (Ran) had the psychic ability to look into what happened just by touching the said debris, and she revealed the full story." Pakura explained. "In here there are poaching cases, whether successful or failed, over the years which they suspect she might have something to do with it, and they want me to put an end to this as soon as possible. Chairman William suspects she might have somehow infiltrated into our region."

'It looks like they sent Paku because she is the best assassin that they have.' Ash thought, as they finished their breakfast and got ready to leave, and Pakura went to put the file in her room.

However, Pakura forgot to do one fatal thing in her haste to join the others: Check that her door is closed and locked properly.

* * *

Ash sat among his friends (sans Jude, because he said he needed to go somewhere), thinking as he watched the first match of the day- Anabel vs Sabrina. Both of them are definitely going all out as he couldn't hear them give verbal commands. Ash knew both of them had the ability to command (Anabel was because he had experienced it first-hand, and Sabrina was because he had read it from a magazine called Pokémon Journal) without saying anything just like them- however, unlike them, theirs is a telepathic communication, which can be broken if the user looks away from their Pokémon. Also, if one party involved in the mental communication is unable to relax, it would make it null and void.

The PAL Elites on the other hand, use aura to communicate their command, and it doesn't necessary need eye contact (in fact, the command can be given even when the Pokémon and Trainer is back to back), and the users of aura can use their aura to calm a Pokémon down via aura communication if they sense that their Pokémon is unable to relax.

There were only two people who know how to use telepathy to command- Ash and Rosaline. However, he suspected Pakura can use it as well, as she is known to be the strongest psychic in the PAL region, alongside the Dragon Prince.

"How are we supposed to know what they would come up with next if we can't hear their thoughts?" Aaron asked his Elites.

"I guess that's the surprise of it." Cynthia shrugged, as she watched Sabrina counter Anabel's Metagross' Meteor Mash with her Gallade's Close Combat.

Ash looked at the scoreboard. Anabel had revealed 4 Pokémon, and three were already down, while Sabrina revealed 3 and only one was down.

'Anabel is sure to save her Espeon for last, but according to the database, Sabrina herself owns as Espeon as well, and wondered if Sabrina would use it.' Ash thought. The way things looked, it looked as if Sabrina may win this battle.

"I'm going to the bathroom for a while." Ash announced, and his friends nodded as he left the VIP Box.

Ash sighed as he entered the gents, and sat on the velvet couch the elegant toilet provided. Pikachu patted his arm comfortingly, as he understood that everything that had happened the past few days was taking a toll on him.

"What am I going to do?" Ash sighed. "Rosaline's prophecy….and three of my Elites have been injured…." He trailed off as he sighed again. He looked up sharply when he detected two people approaching the toilet, and it was two people that he didn't like. He rolled his eyes, and went into a stall to hide with Pikachu and Lucario just as the door opened and they entered.

"The bones on Max's arm shattered into so many pieces it'll take a long time before that arm is healed." Cilan said grimly to Trip. Ash heard zipping which meant they are using the urinals.

"Who could've done such a thing?" Trip asked angrily.

"Beats me, they can't tell us what happened because they are still unconscious." Cilan reported. "They are currently suffering from mild hypothermia, which means they have been exposed to the ice for a long time. The lava didn't melt it before they were exposed to the ice too much. It's definitely an Ice-type move being used."

'Opps, I guess I miscalculated the amount of time it would take to melt the ice.' Ash thought. 'Her ice powers are stronger than I thought.'

"Then it must be Pakura! Who else can it be?" Trip was outraged, as the toilet flushed, and he exited his stall.

"Yes, but what about the lava?" Cilan asked, and Trip fell silent. "The lava was extremely hot, and yet it wasn't enough to melt the ice completely in a short amount of time. I'm sure that lava can overpower any Ice type move, even Pakura's. No, something else is going on here."

"What are we going to do?" Trip sounded worried, as he zipped back his pants.

"I don't know about you, but for now, I'll wait until they wake up, and find out what happened. Iris did promise me a date after all." Cilan replied, zipping his pants and both of them washed their hands, and exited the bathroom.

Ash exited as soon as he heard them leave. It looks like the Ice ability is more troublesome than he thought.

"Come on, let's go." Ash nodded to his Pokémon, and they both exited the bathroom, only to run into someone.

This person was tall and thin, wore black horn-rimmed glasses, and had her brown hair in a ponytail, with matching grey eyes. She was also wearing a laboratory coat which is open to reveal a white tank top and a pair of jeans. This was their manager, Phlox DeLaurentis, and also PAL's regional Professor, who studies everything, ranging from relationships between humans and Pokémon to the all-desired Mega Evolution.

"Hey Phlox, long time no see!" Ash was surprised to see her. "Where have you been?"

Phlox shrugged. "Well, been researching a lot of stuff about Pokémon, and giving out Starter Pokémon to the new Trainers. I had to be at Primordium City, which is where my lab is to give out all those Starters, and I have to reach before the Trainers did to give those Starters in time, and you know it takes two days by car to reach, since it's so far away. Also, those new Trainers want to watch this tournament, so I only can leave my lab after I'm sure I gave all my Starters to the Trainers. I had to wait there for days to make sure all the Trainers arrive for their Starter."

"I see." Ash nodded.

"Is Rosa battling now?" Phlox asked.

"No, not yet. Would you like to see her?" As far as he knew, Phlox was a childhood friend of Rosaline and the two were close to one another, with Phlox calling her "Rosa". After Benzene supposedly went missing and resigned, it was Rosaline who recommended her friend to be their manager. Seeing no problem, he had agreed, and Phlox turned out to be a much better manager than Benzene ever was, a sentiment that all the Elites agreed to.

"I still got a lot of research to do, actually." Phlox scratched her head. "I might come along and watch the match. Tell her I said hi." With that, she left the Battle Arena.

Ash watched her leave, and heard the cheers of the audience, indicating the match between Anabel and Sabrina was over. By the sounds of it, it sounded like Sabrina had won over Anabel. Sure enough, when he entered, the scoreboard showed Sabrina's face with the words "WINNER" on top. And by the team that they showed below her picture, she still had one Pokémon she had not revealed, and she did use her Espeon in battle.

He knew that Jude's match was next, and after Jude's battles, it would be Pakura's turn, followed by his. Cynthia, Rosaline would be battling after him, and Volkner and Wallace would fight it out before Phillip, and he would be the last to battle today.

A few minutes later, Ken announced, "We would now begin the second match for the Top 16 battles, we have Elite Jude and Champion Lance to battle it out for the Top 8 spot! Let's welcome the two opponents!" The crowd cheered as the platform pushed both of them out into the battlefield.

"Wait, is that…." Ash saw something blue on Jude's shoulder. "An Azurill?"

"**He must've went to adopt Misty's Azurill." **Pikachu deduced.

"So that's where he went." Ash sighed, but he smiled. Jude must've wanted to raise it into an Azumarill, and Azumarill is a part-Water Pokémon.

"This would be a six-on-six elimination battle. Trainers, send out your first Pokémon!"

"Haxorus, battle time!" Lance threw his Pokéball and it opened to reveal the Axe Jaw Pokémon.

"Houndoom, show them what you've got!" His Pokéball opened to reveal the Dark Pokémon. Also, it was wearing a Mega Stone.

"Houndoom, let's go beyond the limits of evolution!" Jude held up his wrist that had the bracelet containing his Key Stone, and the said Key Stone reacted to the Houndoominite, and Houndoom promptly Mega Evolved to a Mega Houndoom.

"Both Trainers ready?" Lance and Jude nodded. "Then, battle begin!"

* * *

"Garchomp, use Flamethrower!" Lance commanded, and Mega Garchomp shot a powerful Flamethrower at Jude's Greninja.

'Greninja, counter with Hydro Pump!' Jude countered non-verbally. Both attacks clashed, with neither attack giving in. The scoreboard indicated that Lance had revealed 5 Pokémon and lost four, while Jude also revealed 5 Pokémon and lost three.

"Now, Thunder Wave!"

"What?" Jude was surprised, as Thunder Wave hit its mark and Greninja is now paralyzed.

'It worked.' Lance thought, inwardly grinning. 'And I also figured out a body language pattern to Jude's commands as well.' He knew he had the Dragon Princess to thank.

"Garchomp, Draco Meteor!" Lance ordered.

'Destroy them with Water Shuriken, go!' Jude thought, and Greninja gritted its teeth to overcome the paralysis to counter Draco Meteor.

"Finish it! Brick Break, go!" Lance said, as Garchomp got close to Greninja while he's distracted and finished Greninja off with a Brick Break. Greninja fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Greninja is unable to battle! Elite Jude, please send out your next Pokémon!" Greninja's icon went dark, signalling it can't battle anymore, leaving Jude with only 2 Pokémon left.

Jude decided to send out his Yveltal once again, who was somewhat tired from wearing down 2 of Lance's Pokémon, Salamence, or rather, Mega Salamence and Aerodactyl, both of them being extremely fast in general.

Meanwhile, Ash and the others are talking about the battle.

"It's too bad his Kingdra and Hydregion got taken down, I mean Dragon types are weak to Dragon-type moves." Rosaline remarked, looking at the dark icon of Jude's Kingdra and Hydregion.

"Lance is a Dragon Master. He knows how Dragon and Dragon-like Pokémon work." Ash replied. "I mean, he's been training them practically since he was born."

"Looks like Lance had also figured out Jude's body language, which of course, puts Jude in a pinch." Phillip commented. "I have to commend him for that, and to be able to take down a Pokémon with a type advantage." He jerked his thumb towards Empoleon, whose icon has already darkened.

Ash looked up just in time to see Yveltal use Oblivion Wing, which absorbs Garchomp's health, and at the same time recovering its own energy, which is probably enough to make another move. Lance and Jude commanded their Pokémon to use Giga Impact and Dragon Rush respectively, and they clashed in the middle, and exploded in a cloud of smoke.

'Both Pokémon are down…..it looks like we only have one Pokémon left.' Jude thought, as he used his aura to scan the battlefield. Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, both Pokémon were down with swirls in their eyes.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! Please send out your final Pokémon!" Evan announced.

"Dragonite, battle time!" Lance sent out his faithful partner.

Jude wondered if he should send out his Volcanion, the rare Legendary Pokémon, but decided against it, as he knew that Volcanion is at a type disadvantage. He must combat this Dragonite with at least an even playing field.

"Liepard, you're up!" Liepard nodded, and jumped into the battlefield.

"And let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

* * *

Lance gritted his teeth. That Liepard is extremely fast, and she was almost a blur when she dodged Dragonite's attacks. In addition, she was silent and can strike Dragonite from behind. The speed was such that she can also vanish and reappear without warning. If only he could somehow affect her balance.

"Dragonite, Ice Beam on the ground!" Dragonite froze the entire battlefield using his Ice Beam, and sure enough, Liepard started to lose her balance slightly.

'Liepard, Attract!' Jude commanded mentally, and Liepard winked, sending hearts to Dragonite.

"Dragonite, Thunderbolt!" The Thunderbolt effectively destroyed the hearts, but Liepard came close to Dragonite, and used Draining Kiss on him, effectively absorbing his energy.

"Dragonite, use Twister!" Lance commanded, and the Twister threw Liepard up, and Jude had surprise and worry on his face.

'Liepard, backflip and prepare a Shadow Claw!' Jude thought. Liepard managed to get some sort of balance in the air, and as she plunged back to the ground, she activated her Shadow Claw.

"Counter with Dragon Claw!" Lance said as soon as he saw Liepard preparing a Shadow Claw.

Both of those moves clashed, and Lance quickly called for Dragonite to use a Focus Blast, which was super effective on Liepard. Liepard crashed to the ground, and chips of ice flew into the air.

"Liepard! Are you alright?" Jude asked. Liepard got up, struggling a little, and nodded.

'Then, use Giga Impact!' Jude thought. Liepard's body was then surrounded in an invisible energy. A bright flash of yellow light appears in front of her face and she faced towards the Dragonite. She charged towards Dragonite and an orb of light purple energy with spiralling light yellow streaks around it appear around Liepard's body.

'That's Giga Impact.' Lance thought. "Dragonite, counter with Dragon Rush!"

Both attacks clashed, and it created such an impact, everyone (sans the ones in the VIP Box) had to cover their eyes.

'Both of them are still standing.' Jude thought, using his aura once more. And when the smoke cleared, both were seen to be very tired, as they were panting, and they were having a stare down with each other. Everyone waited in anticipation to see who would win at this stare down.

Dragonite groaned, and everyone thought he would faint, but he simply sank down to one knee, not wanting to disappoint his trainer, and everyone turned to look at Liepard who was still on all fours, but to everyone's surprise, she wobbled once, and fell to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

Evan ran over to look at Liepard, and after confirming her status, he announced, "Liepard is unable to battle! Dragonite wins! Which means, the winner of the second match is Champion Lance!"

"Jude lost?" Rosaline was surprised.

"Well, we are bound to lose in the tournament at some point. After all, there could only be one winner." Ash replied, though he himself was shocked at his friend's loss.

"…" Pakura kept quiet.

"He was able to overcome the non-verbal commands. Amazing." Phillip remarked, just as Jude came in, giving a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry, Jude. You were great out there." Ash patted him on the shoulder, just as Pakura silently just made her way out of the VIP Box, alongside Grimsley.

"Good luck." Rosaline kissed Grimsley on the cheek.

* * *

The scoreboard indicated that Grimsley had five Pokémon revealed, and four were down. Pakura, on the other hand, had revealed 4 of them, and only one was down, and that was her Audino (though she did Mega Evolve it). Grimsley and Pakura had their Mega Sharpedo and Clefable out respectively.

"Sharpedo, Poison Fang!" Grimsley ordered.

'Stay put, and wait until it gets close. After that, use Dazzling Gleam.' Pakura thought. Clefable nodded, and waited until Mega Sharpedo got close. Just as he was about to chomp down on Clefable, she released a bright light from her body, hitting Mega Sharpedo.

"Sharpedo, use Ice Beam!" Grimsley cried, as Clefable fired a Moonblast. However, the Ice Beam wasn't enough to push black Moonblast, and eventually, the Moonblast hit Mega Sharpedo, and it was enough to force Mega Sharpedo out of the Mega Evolution, and Pakura finished it with a Thunderbolt.

"Sharpedo is unable to battle!" Evan announced, as Sharpedo's icon went dark. "Elite Grimsley, please send out your last Pokémon!"

Grimsley weighed his options. Not even Liepard, his fastest Pokémon, was a match for Pakura's team, who all have incredible speed. He had to play it safe as his Sharpedo, Houndoom, Drapion, and the two recently caught Malamar and Sableye were no match for Pakura's Pokémon.

Eevee was whining at his shoulder, but Grimsley knew he can't send Eevee out due to his lack of battling experience. He had to send out a Pokémon with a chance of an even level playing field.

"Bisharp, let's battle!" He sent out the Sword Blade Pokémon.

"Clefable, good work." Pakura muttered, returning her to her Pokéball.

Grimsley looked briefly at the scoreboard. Pakura still had her Clefable, Slurpuff and Glaceon (who was on the verge of fainting, that was what he knew) along with two Pokémon that isn't revealed. He watched as she took out a Pokéball, and wondered if she would send out a new Pokémon or send out one of the ones revealed.

"Let's go, Gardevoir!" She decided to send out the Embrace Pokémon.

"Now, let's show them the power of our bond!" Gardevoir's Gardevoirite reacted to Pakura's Mega Charm, and she Mega Evolved to Mega Gardevoir.

"Well, Grimsley have an advantage here. Maybe he can defeat her Mega Gardevoir at least." Rosaline said, though she was extremely unsure.

"Trainers ready?" Both of them nodded. "Then, battle begin!"

* * *

"Bisharp, use Toxic!" Grimsley ordered.

'Gardevoir, counter with Focus Blast, after that jump and use Thunder Wave.' Pakura commanded mentally. Both attacks clashed in the middle, and Mega Gardevoir jumped to avoid the residue of the Toxic move that was heading her direction. She then fired a Thunder Wave, paralyzing Bisharp.

'Finish it. Fire Punch.' Pakura nodded, and Mega Gardevoir took advantage of the split second distraction to use the said move on Bisharp, which sent Bisharp flying and hit the wall behind Grimsley. Bisharp fell to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"Bisharp is unable to battle. Mega Gardevoir wins. Which means, the winner is Elite Pakura!" Evan declared.

"And would you look at that! Just like that, Elite Pakura would be moving on to the Top 8!" Ken announced, as Pakura simply turned and left the battlefield, ignoring the cheers of the crowd.

Ash knew it was his turn to battle, and he walked out of the VIP Box heading for the Launch Room.

"**Have you decided on the Pokémon you want to use?" **Lucario asked.

"Of course. From now on, it's time to take my gloves off, and start using some of my Legendaries, start Mega Evolving my Pokémon more, and I won't be commanding verbally from now on. I have to be ahead of the game." Ash replied, as he drank down a glass of water. "If the rest of my Elites win today, there's a chance we might face each other in the next round. Also, there's the regional Champions to worry about, their Pokémon are bound to be exceptionally powerful."

Just then, the pleasant female voice announced it was time to launch, and Ash nodded to both his Pokémon and they all stepped on the platform, allowing the glass to lower around them again, and the platform rising in the darkness, pushing them out into the battlefield.

"And now, for the third match of the Top 16 battles, we have Champion Red and Trainer Paul, both very young and very talented individuals with unique battling style, which is sure to be an interesting clash." Ken announced.

"Red, don't go easy on me. I want your full strength!" Paul called out.

"Same here." Ash smiled.

"Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon!" Evan said.

"Ninjask, stand by for battle!" Paul sent out the Ninja Pokémon.

"You chose Ninjask, huh?" Ash commented. "Well then, Sceptile, lend me your aura!" He threw the Pokéball and it opened to reveal the final form of Treecko. Also, it was wearing a Mega Stone.

"Sceptile, let our auras become one!" With those words, Ash's Mega Glove reacted to Sceptile's Sceptilite, and it Mega Evolved into Mega Sceptile.

"First move is yours, Paul." Ash held out his hand towards Paul in a gesture that says to go ahead.

"Sure. Ninjask, start off with X-Scissor!" Paul commanded.

Ash made eye contact with Mega Sceptile, and Mega Sceptile gave a single nod, before promptly dodging the attack.

"Fury Cutter, go!" Paul called out.

'Sceptile, use Detect to dodge for now, and later counter it with Thunder Punch. I'll be counting on you to wait for the right time.' Ash thought, and Mega Sceptile's eyes glowed blue and began dodging the Fury Cutter with ease. When Ninjask aimed one Fury Cutter to Mega Sceptile's face, Mega Sceptile quickly intercepted it with Thunder Punch, and used the other hand to successfully strike Ninjask with a second Thunder Punch.

'Oh man, it's really difficult to know what move Ash would call out next. I better use a far range move.' Paul thought. "Ninjask, Bug Buzz!"

'Sceptile, use Leaf Storm to prevent the sound wave from getting to you!' Ash thought, and both attacks clashed. When the attacks cleared, Mega Sceptile was nowhere to be seen.

'What the?" Paul thought, looking around for Mega Sceptile and realized too late, it was above Ninjask.

"Ninjask, above you!" But it was too late, as Mega Sceptile managed to get an Aerial Ace on Ninjask.

'What power.' Paul thought. Even if he saw it a few times when training, he was still impressed. "Ninjask, Sand Storm!" Ninjask obeyed, and a strong sandstorm appeared in the battlefield.

Ash smiled as he looked at the sandstorm that blocked Mega Sceptile from his view. His aura told him Mega Sceptile was covering its eyes to prevent sand from getting to its eyes.

'Scpetile, calm down. Let's see what Paul's next move would be.'

Mega Sceptile nodded, and the next second he heard Paul command Ninjask to use Silver Wind. The Silver Wind mixed in with the sandstorm, increasing its power and also making it a dual Ground/Bug type move due to the Silver Wind mixing in with the sandstorm.

'Nice work.' Ash thought. 'But…Sceptile, Magical Leaf!' He knew he had to use far range moves in order to make sure Ninjask can't launch an attack while Mega Sceptile is countering the Silver Wind-Sandstorm attack. Each of the Silver Wind-Sandstorm clashed with one Magical Leaf and they repelled each other.

"Ninjask, Shadow Ball, and then use Metal Claw!" Paul shouted.

'Counter with Energy Ball, and follow it up with Dragon Claw!' Ash thought. The two balls clashed, and exploded, and Mega Sceptile managed to overpower Ninjask's Metal Claw.

'Finish it with Rock Slide.' Ash nodded, and Mega Sceptile buried Ninjask in a pile of rocks. Ninjask laid on the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Ninjask is unable to battle! Mega Sceptile wins. Trainer Paul, please send out your next Pokémon!"

Paul returned Ninjask, thanking it for its hard work, and sent out Ursaring.

"Ursaring, huh?" Ash muttered. "Alright then, Sceptile, return!" He returned his Sceptile, and decided to send Victini as his next Pokémon, as it has been itching to battle for a long time along with his other Legendaries.

"Victini, lend me your aura!" Ash sent out the Victory Pokémon, to the shock of many.

"What's that Pokémon?" Phoebe asked, and before any of the ones from Unova can answer, Phillip had opened his CommuniDex, which said, "Victini, the Victory Pokémon. This Pokémon brings victory. It is said that Trainers with Victini always win, regardless of the type of encounter. It creates an unlimited supply of energy inside its body, which it shares with those who touch it, and when they do, that being's entire body will be overflowing with power."

Paul had his mouth open for a second, before smiling. "Well, you did keep your promise to give me a challenge. Ursaring, Focus Punch!" Ursaring's fist glowed white and it charged at Victini, ready to execute the move.

'Victini, intercept with Psychic.' Ash thought, and Victini's eyes glowed, stopping Ursaring in its tracks. 'Now, toss him up in the air, and use Searing Shot.'

Paul watched, opened mouthed, as Victini tossed his Pokémon in the air, and was ready to use another attack.

"Ursaring, Giga Impact!" Paul called out, and both the attacks met each other in mid-air, and both were eventually sent flying back to the trainer's side. Both Pokemon got up, glaring at each other.

'Crap, Ursaring needs time to rest from the Giga Impact.' Paul thought.

'Flame Charge, go!' Ash thought, and Victini covered itself with fire and rushed to Ursaring, hitting it, and increasing its speed at the same time.

'Keep using it until Ursaring recovers.' Ash thought, nodding to Victini.

"Ursaring, Shadow Claw!" Paul shouted, after Ursaring was hit with the second Flame Charge. Much to Ash's surprise, Ursaring slashed down, sending Victini to the ground.

'What? He recovered so fast!' Ash thought, surprise written on his face. 'Victini, V-create!' Victini nodded, and proceeded to get up and attack Ursaring with that move, which at the same time lowered its Defense, Special Defense, and Speed.

"Ursaring, Earthquake, followed by Smack Down!"

'Victini, get out of there!' Victini jumped to avoid the Earthquake, only to be hit by Smack Down by Ursaring, allowing Victini to be hit by Earthquake.

'Victini, are you alright?' Ash asked it telepathically.

'I'm fine.' Victini replied.

"Ursaring, use Shadow Ball!" Paul called out.

'Use Focus Blast. Twice.' Ash thought.

The first Focus Blast and the Shaodw Ball clashed, but to Paul's shock, another one was coming Ursaring's way, and it was too late to avoid it.

'Now, Brick Break!' Ash thought, and Victini went in for the said move, finally fainting Ursaring.

"Ursaring is unable to battle! Trainer Paul, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"Froslass, stand by for battle!" Paul sent out the all-female Snow Land Pokémon.

"Victini, return. You did great. Now, Goodra, lend me your aura!" The Dragon Pokémon appeared out on the battlefield. As soon as he saw Ash, he went over to give him a great big hug.

"I love you too, Goodra, but can we hug after the battle?" Ash requested.

Goodra looked over, and saw his opponent. **"Opps, sorry." **He then went over to face Froslass again.

"Alright, battle begin!" Evan chuckled.

* * *

'I so hate the Hail and Snow Cloak combination.' Ash groaned, when Paul called for a Hail and using the Ability Snow Cloak, Froslass can repeatedly appear and disappear throughout the battlefield, leaving Goodra confused. 'It'd be difficult to aim attacks this way.'

Ash watched as Paul called out for Ice Punch, which did deal a significant damage to Goodra, and even did an Astonish. Goodra gritted his teeth, trying to stand his ground.

'Wait a minute.' Ash noticed that Froslass' movements were getting slower. 'Could Goodra's Ability be Gooey? That's it! Goodra, use Attract!' He knew that Froslass wouldn't be fast enough to use her Snow Cloak Ability. Goodra winked, and hearts flew to Froslass, who became infatuated.

'Use Absorb, and then Iron Tail!' Ash commanded mentally. The Absorb drained Froslass' health and Goodra regained his, and it was enough for it to use an Iron Tail on Froslass, who snapped out of her infatuation.

"Froslass, Hyper Beam!"

'Goodra, counter with Dragon Breath!' Ash thought.

Both attacks exploded when they met, and when the smoke cleared, Goodra was barely standing. Froslass on the other hand was down with swirls in her eyes.

"Froslass is unable to battle! Trainer Paul, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"Drapion, stand by for battle!"

"Sceptile, lend me your aura again!" He switched out Goodra after thanking him for his hard work, and sent out his Mega Sceptile again to battle.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

* * *

"Both Sceptile and Drapion are unable to battle. Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon."

"I'm impressed, Paul. Not many people are able to take down my Sceptile." Ash returned his Sceptile whose transformation wore off, and was down with swirls in its eyes.

Paul's combination of Toxic, which slowly wore Sceptile's health off, using Aerial Ace to get close to Sceptile, and when intercepted with Dual Chop, Venoshock was used, which of course damaged Sceptile badly, which Ash admitted it was a great strategy, and was caught off guard. Sceptile retaliated with Bulldoze, and it took Drapion down, with Sceptile falling over shortly after. Overgrow did activate, but Ash didn't use it because Grass-type moves aren't very effective against Drapion.

"Well, then….Metagross, lend me your aura!" He sent out the Iron Leg Pokémon. "Now….let our auras become one!" With that, the Metagrossite reacted to Ash's Mega Glove and Mega Evolved to Mega Metagross.

"Magmortar, stand by for battle." Paul decided to go for the type advantage.

"Good choice." Ash grinned, as Evan announced the start of the battle.

"Magmortar, start things off with Earthquake!" Paul commanded.

'Metagross, Magnet Rise!' Ash thought, and Mega Metagross avoided damage by levitating itself up.

"Now, use Fire Spin!" Magmortar released a spiralling red-yellow stream of fire from its mouth towards Metagross.

'Psychic to stop it and send it back!' Ash thought, and Psychic effectively stopped the Fire Spin from reaching Mega Metagross, and at the same time sent it back to Magmortar. However, being a Fire-type, it wasn't very effective.

'Because of Flame Body, I cannot really risk a contact move.' Ash thought. 'Then…Metagross, let's use Shadow Ball.' The Shadow Ball caught Magmortar by surprise, and it allowed Shadow Ball to his its mark.

"Magmortar, use Strength!" Paul called out.

'Iron Defense.' Ash thought. Both clashed, and when this happened, Paul called out for a Fire Punch.

'Meteor Mash.' Ash nodded. When Meteor Mash met with Fire Punch, Paul called out for a Giga Impact.

'Withdraw the Meteor Mash, and dodge that Fire Punch. We'll use Earthquake.' Ash thought, as Mega Metagross prepared the move.

"Double Team!" Paul called out.

'Attack the one third from left!' Ash mentally commanded. The Earthquake was extremely devastating, and it even threw Magmortar to the ground.

"Use Sunny Day, followed by Flamethrower!" Paul called out.

'Counter with Hyper Beam.' Ash thought. It resulted in an explosion of smoke which covered the entire battlefield.

'The problem is Metagross needs time to recharge after using Hyper Beam. I can't make my move yet.' Ash thought.

'The smoke's so thick! I can't see a thing! I'll rely on luck.' Paul mentally sighed. "Magmortar, let's use Ember!"

Much to the audience's surprise, the Ember did hit Mega Metagross, and it slid out of the smoke towards Ash.

'The Ember is so much stronger thanks to Sunny Day, I'll have to stop it. Metagross, use Rain Dance!' The Rain Dance was used right as Paul called out for a Solar Beam.

'Oh no!' Paul thought. 'Ash really got me in a corner. Until Magmortar fires the Solar Beam, he can't use another move. Also, it's a Fire-type so the water from Rain Dance does weaken most of its moves.'

'Alright, finish it with Thunder Punch!' Ash nodded, and Mega Metagross obeyed, and Magmortar fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Magmortar is unable to battle! Trainer Paul, please send out your last Pokémon!"

Paul wondered which Pokémon he should send out, and decided to choose Torterra.

Ash smiled, and he returned his Mega Metagross, and sent out Mismagius.

Evan began the battle, and Paul started off with Energy Ball.

'Use Psychic, and then send the Energy Ball back.' Ash thought. Mismagius nodded, and sent the Energy Ball back to where it came from. Torterra was hit, but it merely shook its head, and got back to defensive stance.

"Torterra, use Sandstorm!" With that, the battlefield was now in a raging sandstorm. "Now, use Rock Polish three times, followed by Leaf Storm!" Paul called out, taking advantage of the momentary distraction on Ash's side and Torterra managed to increase its speed drastically.

'Mismagius, Mystical Fire!' Ash countered when he heard the Leaf Storm command, and the Mystical Fire successfully burned the Leaf Storm. Only to be surprised as Torterra was now in front of Mismagius, and Paul called out a Crunch attack. Mismagius cried out in pain as it fell to the ground.

"Now, use Giga Drain!" Paul called out, and Torterra proceeded to sap Mismagius' health.

'He increased Torterra's speed using Rock Polish three times while I was distracted, allowing him to increase his speed and get in front of Mismagius in an instant. Also, he attacked with a Crunch, and before I can even react he used Giga Drain' Ash was impressed. 'But, I have a few moves of my own. Mismagius, Will-O-Wisp!' Mismagius burned Torterra's face using that move, forcing Torterra to let it go.

'Now, Magical Leaf!' Ash commanded.

"Counter with Razor Leaf!" Both attacks clashed and repelled each other.

'Now, use Rest.' Ash thought, as he knew Torterra sapped her energy away earlier and he needed to recover them. Mismagius nodded, and fell asleep, and started to glow, indicating her energy is returning.

"Torterra, charge in and use Bite!" Paul called out.

'Sleep Talk.' Ash thought. It turned out to be Icy Wind, which damaged Torterra badly. At the same time, Mismagius shook itself awake so as not to worry Ash.

"Torterra, Stone Edge!" Paul commanded.

'Phantom Force.' Ash smirked.

Paul was shocked when Mismagius suddenly vanished. He looked around, but couldn't see the Mismagius anywhere.

"Torterra, use Protect." However, when Mismagius appeared to strike, she appeared inside the shield with Torterra.

"Paul, Phantom Force is a move that hits even if the target protects itself. That is why Protect won't work." Ash explained. 'Mismagius, Psybeam!'

Paul groaned. "Torterra, Withdraw!" The shell managed to block Psybeam and Torterra didn't take any damage at all.

"Torterra, Stone Edge!" Paul called out.

'Dazzling Gleam!' Torterra was distracted from the bright light of the Dazzling Gleam (and damaged), and misfired the Stone Edge.

"Seed Bomb!" Paul commanded.

'Use Psywave!' Ash mentally told Mismagius. Psywave destroyed Seed Bomb, but Paul managed to call in a Giga Impact.

'Mismagius, use Thunder on yourself while using Aerial Ace!' Ash thought. Mismagius shocked itself with Thunder while activating Aerial Ace, making the Aerial Ace electrified and stronger, and Mismagius went to clash with Torterra.

When they clashed, Ash told Mismagius to use Destiny Bond just in case.

The two Pokémon were thrown to the ground, and Mismagius had swirls in its eyes. Toorterra, however, was still standing.

"Good job, Torterra…" Paul trailed off when his Torterra was surrounded by a purple aura and instantly fainted. 'What happened?' Paul thought, and widened his eyes when he realized Ash used Destiny Bond.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle! Since Trainer Paul doesn't have any Pokémon left, the win goes to Champion Red!" The crowd cheered when Ash was announced as the victor.

"Great match, Red." Paul came to shake his hand. "Thanks for not going easy."

"My pleasure." Ash replied. "You were great. Not many people can take more than one Pokémon down."

* * *

"And Elite Phillip manages to pull a spectacular win against Leader Gary in a six-on six battle!" The scoreboard indicated Gary lost all six Pokémon, while Phillip only lost two, and that was his Aggron (he did Mega Evolve it) and Excadrill. He still had Mega Ampharos, Galvantula and Skarmory. He haven't used his sixth Pokémon.

"And with that, it concludes our Top 16 matches. Please look at the board for the upcoming Top 8 matches." Everyone turned to see the screen, where it was shown that Ash, Pakura, Phillip, Rosaline, Wallace, Lance and Sabrina made it to the Top 8. Their pictures were then flipped down and they were mixed around for a while (it was also very fast so no one could tell which picture was which), and finally divided into four boxes with two pictures in each box, and the pictures were flipped up.

'Interesting.' Ash thought, as he saw that he was paired up with Sabrina.

"Uh oh…." Rosaline gulped when she saw Wallace's pic next to hers.

Phillip and Cynthia looked at each other.

'Oh crap.' Lance thought, as he realized his next opponent was Pakura.

There was complete silence as the group left the stadium.

* * *

'Oh no!' Rosaline thought as her favourite ring dropped, and rolled under the connecting door that led to Pakura's room. She rushed over to the rom and tried to open Pakura's connecting door, but of course, it was locked. Espeon was crouching down trying to see where Rosaline's ring went.

Rosaline knocked on the door. "Hello, Pakura?"

No answer.

'Maybe she isn't there.' Rosaline thought. 'Perhaps she wouldn't mind if I went to her room to take my ring back.' She went outside to Pakura's door and tried the knob, and much to her delight, the door opened. Rosaline searched for her ring, and found it next to Pakura's bed. She picked up the ring, and was about to go out, but decided to explore Pakura's room, since she wondered why Pakura never lets them in her room.

She looked around. Pakura's room was certainly neat and clean, except for the desk which was full of papers and books probably from her work. At her bedside was a pink music box that was outlined in gold. Rosaline tried to play it, but there was no music.

'Huh, perhaps it was broken. Why didn't she ask Phillip to fix it?'

At the other side of her bed was something that looked like a treasure chest, that has a padlock to keep it locked, but with no visible keyhole. Rosaline wondered what it required in order for the lock to open, and what she kept inside

She found hundreds of Pakura's outfits, coats, pairs of shoes in her closet. Rosaline had to chuckle on the amount of clothes they send her as PAL's Princess. She wondered if Pakura would allow her to wear her dresses again. As she leaned against the closet wall, she accidentally pressed a button, and the closet's false back opened to reveal another compartment. Rosaline frowned, and stepped into the hidden compartment.

She looked up at the three walls that featured portraits in the hidden room. And gasped, because all three portraits featured Pakura, and a boy she recognized as Shiki. One even featured them in the Dragon Duo outfit.

The first portrait was a Pakura crying bitterly and clinging tightly to Shiki, and Shiki was hugging her back with a reassuring expression. The second featured Shiki slow dancing with Pakura (though her back was turned) and Shiki was wearing a dark blue tuxedo, Pakura a red off-the-shoulder dress. The third featured Shiki and Pakura lying among hundreds of flowers in wedding outfits, and both were smiling.

When Rosaline looked closer, she saw her signature at the right bottom corner of all three portraits. But she never remembered painting them.

"What's going on?" She whispered, stepping back, and slipping on something. Espeon's mouth was also open in surprise. Rosaline turned to see hundreds of bottles, and pill bottles.

"Wait a minute….aren't these alcohol and anti-depressants?' Rosaline rushed over to examine them. Sure enough the labels proved that the bottles contained liquor, and the pill bottles contained venlafaxine, sertraline, bupropion, and duloxetine.

Rosaline was horrified. Their Leader is an addict.

She screamed, which attracted Jude and Phillip's attention.

"Rosaline, what's going on?" They came rushing to Pakura's room with their Pokémon, and entered the closet. Rosaline shakily pointed, as she couldn't even speak.

"Why are you even in her room?" Jude asked.

"Well….I came for my ring actually, but got curious and explored her room to see what she can be hiding…" She chucked sheepishly.

Phillip went to examine the bottles, and Jude looked at the portraits.

"Wait….Pakura is an addict?" Phillip said cautiously.

"And she's the Dragon Princess, look!" Jude pointed to the portraits.

"So she's the one that attacked us." Rosaline concluded.

"Very clever." A cold voice said "But what have I said about going to my room?" Needles flew, and hit all of their Pokémon. In an instant, the Pokémon's eyelids became heavier, and fell to the ground, sleeping. In addition, the three of them was lifted, and thrown out of the closet. The three of them landed on the ground with a thud.

They looked up to see Pakura. To their surprise, she was alone. Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee weren't with her.

"I don't want your pesky Pokémon to interfere." Pakura said calmly.

"How long would they be out?" Phillip glared at her.

"I give them at least half a day to wake up." Pakura replied nonchalantly, and started to attack. The three of them jumped away, as Pakura fist struck the ground, causing a shock wave, and them to stumble.

The three tried to take out their Pokéballs to get their other Pokémon, but Pakura's eyes glowed, and their Pokéballs vanished. The three of them had no choice but to summon their weapon of choice from their rooms. Rosaline a sword that she can infuse her fire abilities with in order to increase the range and lethality of her sword. Jude's was a trident, and Phillip's was a weapon he can change between a machine gun and a machete whose blade glowed bright yellow and was apparently infused with pure electrical energy.

Pakura shook her head, and took out her pistol-like blaster, which everyone knows had several different settings: Energy Magnum, Heat Ray, Stun, Poison Gas, Tranquilizer Darts, Beam, and Needle.

Phillip started shooting at Pakura, who quickly changed her mode to Energy Magnum, and met Phillip's bullets with hers. The two bullets repelled each other, and fell harmlessly on the ground.

'She's really fast and accurate.' Phillip thought, as Rosaline decided to get her from behind. However, when Rosaline tried to her fire fist ability (and if she hits there would be an explosion), she ended up hitting Phillip, as at the last second, Pakura used teleportation to exchange her position with Phillip, causing him to receive the damage. Rosaline gritted her teeth, as she knew that her wounds from a few days ago have not been healed completely, and she risked reopening her wounds if she attacked.

"Phillip! Are you alright?" Rosaline asked, as Jude engaged Pakura in weapon combat, and Pakura herself took out a knife to clash with his trident. Jude winced as his arms were getting sliced, and blood was flowing out of those wounds.

"Bitch!" Phillip gritted his teeth, and activated his electric armour, and raised his machete. Pakura simply got a hand out and grabbed the blade, where the electrical energy was fused, and everyone expected her to get electrocuted, as they saw electricity hitting her body. However, she was unfazed as she grabbed Phillip's machete, and sliced him multiple times, and blood was shed.

'No way! She's resistant to electricity?' Phillip thought. 'But how?'

Rosaline decided to engage her in weapon combat as she saw that Pakura had her hand covered in ice like a frozen sword and intercepted it with her own weapon before she struck Phillip again. However, she wasn't as fast as Pakura, and Rosaline gritted her teeth as Pakura managed to strike her, wounding her some more. Pakura was able to trick Rosaline that she was striking from the right, and even managed to stab her in the side. Pakura grabbed hold of Rosaline, and violently threw her against the wall, which caused the walls to crack as Rosaline hit.

"Duck!" Jude cried, as Pakura lifted her bed with telekinesis and hurled it at them. The bed missed them entirely, but it fell on Rosaline's leg, who gave a wince as her leg was stuck. Jude lifted the bed to get her out, and she was about to nod in thanks, when ice shards went flying towards them. Rosaline tried to create a fiery vortex around her to melt the ice shards, but the ice shards did not melt, and it penetrated the vortex, hitting Rosaline in various parts. She hissed in pain as Jude soaked the floor with water, and yelling for her to jump as Phillip electrocuted the water.

However, as she jumped, Pakura got a hold of her, and slammed her down on to the ground. The three of them realized that Pakura can fly, as she was seen floating above them. She vanished, and reappeared behind Phillip, about to attack, when Rosaline quickly used telekinesis to lift the shrapnel that was coming from the broken bed, and threw them towards Pakura, who simply used her paper fan and created several blades of wind that destroyed the shrapnel, and also used Phillip's machete to slit Rosaline's legs, causing her to cry out in pain. Pakura used telekinesis to lift the desk table, which was now empty for some reason, and Rosaline decided to retaliate with the bed. However, Pakura's telekinesis overpowered Rosaline's, and she found herself being hit by both objects, sending her to the ground.

Jude got Pakura from behind in a choke hold, and Pakura struggled to fight him off, as he was stronger than her, even if he had been blowing off training. Phillip and Rosaline smirked, and was about to attack, when Jude let her go, coughing blood. Pakura had stabbed him in the kidney, and ejected it out from the wound gruesomely. Jude stumbled backwards as Phillip threw steel balls he conjured at her, which Pakura simply used her paper fan to slice all of them in half.

Pakura waved her fan, and created an extremely powerful storm towards the three, which Phillip blocked by forming a Steel Wall to block it. She made use of the distraction to teleport and swing her ice blade at Phillip from behind, who placed a hand out to block but he was fast enough to turn his hand into steel, making that part invulnerable. On impact, the ice blade shattered.

She waved her fan again, and a tornado whipped up the entire room, forcing the three of them to duck to the ground, as most of the items were lifted up by the cyclone.

The three of them felt themselves being lifted up by the cyclone, and felt invisible blades assaulting them, carving up their body, causing them to yelp. Pakura then used telekinesis to throw all of them to the ground.

Rosaline infused Phillip's abandoned machete, and infused it with fire to power it up, throwing it at Pakura. The machete exploded, and the three wondered if they got her. However, when the smoke cleared, Pakura was revealed to be safe in a barrier.

They gasped, only to narrowly miss blue beams that flew towards them. Pakura had her gun out again, and must've changed it to Beam mode. Phillip was fast enough to counter with his own electric attacks, and charged a powerful lightning bolt the shape of a sphere, and threw it at Pakura. He also shot a continuous, scattered lightning attack behind the sphere, hoping to hit her this time. Only for Pakura to smirk, and Rosaline was now in her place, and she took the damage from the sphere and Phillip's second attack. Strangely enough, Phillip didn't stop his attack.

"Phillip! What are you doing?" Jude shouted. Only to see that Phillip's eyes were blank.

'Mind control! Shoot!' Jude thought, going over to them, only to slip on ice, and fall to the ground. Rosaline gritted her teeth, and by sheer willpower, made her way to Phillip and burned Phillip's arm, hoping to snap him out of it, but it didn't work. Pakura released her control over Phillip and both of them fell to their knees over their injuries. Rosaline's wounds also reopened, and blood was seeping through her bandages.

Rosaline tried to give an aura-infused kick to Pakura, but she grabbed hold of her leg, and broke it with an aura infused punch, throwing her a distance away and approached her once more. As she neared, Rosaline tried to make Pakura sleepy by using her psychic illusion of feathers falling, as anyone who sees it would fall asleep, but it did not work for some reason. In fact, Pakura simply, grabbed her by the neck, causing her to stop the technique. Rosaline tried to burn her arms for her to let go, but to no avail, and her consciousness is slowly starting to fade.

"You should know better than to use psychic abilities. I have Psychic Shields, remember?" Pakura smiled malevolently.

Behind Pakura, Jude took his trident, and threw it to impale her, only for Pakura to swing Rosaline in front to take the damage like a human shield. She punched Rosaline in the nose, allowing blood to flow through. Rosaline feebly tried to lift her hand to stem the flow, but coughed out blood, and slumped, indicating she had fainted. Pakura shook her head in disgust, and slammed her head-first against the wall. She was about to do it a second time, when Jude shouted, "How dare you!" Which forced her to throw Rosaline at the dressing table nearby, and she landed on it breaking it, and the sharp shards also caused her further injury.

He summoned a sharp water edge that cut Pakura, only for the cuts to heal instantly. Jude then summoned a huge wave that is the height of the room. Pakura's face turned ashen and she seemed to have ceased breathing when she saw the water. She wildly threw her hand out, and the wave froze, causing Jude to be stuck. Phillip went to help by using an electric spear to break the ice apart, but Pakura was faster, and got hold of Phillip, and threw him towards Jude. Both of them fell to the ground with a groan. Jude hissed in pain as he felt the injuries from yesterday kicking in.

Ignoring the pain, Jude got hold of Pakura using his shadows, and even used the materialised shadows to bind her. Pakura frowned as she struggled to move.

"Now Phillip! Get her." Jude said, as Phillip readied his machete that is once again infused with large amounts of electricity, and was ready to slash Pakura at a high speed.

Pakura sighed, and shook her head, as she used teleportation to retrieve a flash bomb and she threw it at them, and it caused a blinding flash. Jude realized his shadows were gone, and Pakura as well right when the flash occurred. While Jude was temporarily blinded, he felt Pakura grab his dominant arm, and gave an infused karate chop to it, shattering his bone. Before Jude could even yell in pain, Pakura also gave him a kick to the jaw, and punching him in the face, before finally throwing the broken desk at him, which bruised and wounded him. Phillip grimaced when he saw blood seeping out from under the desk.

"So…only you left?" Pakura gave an amused smile.

Phillip glared at his Leader. "Why do you do this?" He couldn't believe his own Leader would endanger the rest of the group. Frankly, she was the last person on his mind as she had given a lot of help to Jasmine and Cynthia.

"Why indeed?" Pakura said in a mock thoughtful voice. "Well, I see no reason to explain when you don't even remember."

"Remember what?" Phillip was puzzled. Then he gasped. "Don't tell me the girl who I was in the café in was you!"

Instead of confirming or denying, Pakura went in to attack Phillip.

He was too shocked to even react, as Pakura shot him with the Energy Magnum.

Pakura used her psychic abilities and three black hands appeared, and grabbed hold of Phillip's head, Rosaline's arm, and Jude's ankle. They grabbed three small blue balls that went into Pakura, which made Pakura feel like some of her aura was recovered. With that, she left for the forest.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash yawned, as he finished the paperwork for the day. Luckily, Pakura had finished more than half of it, easing his work a lot.

Just then, the CommuniDex rang, and Ash answered. Only to yelp when he saw the state Phillip was in.

"Phillip, what happened?" Ash whispered, as he looked at the multiple wounds, bruises and burns that Phillip got, and he was bleeding steadily.

"Pakura's the Dragon Princess. Rosaline went into her room to get her ring, but her curiosity got the better of her and she explored it." Phillip explained.

"Well, duh. No one likes it when someone explores their room when they said not to." Ash rolled his eyes. "And then what happened?"

"Rosaline went to her closet and found a secret compartment, you see, and found so many different types of liquor and anti-depressants. And well, that was when Pakura came in, and she knocked out our walking Pokémon, took away the Pokéballs, and we started fighting." Phillip used his remaining aura to cover his wounds so he could last longer without hospital.

"Don't tell me she got all three of you." Ash mumbled.

"She did, actually. Beaten us pretty badly too." Phillip said sheepishly. "I guess this is the price we pay for blowing off training."

'Obviously.' Ash thought. 'Paku herself probably never missed training even with her schedule busier than all three of you combined.' To Phillip, he simply muttered "I'll handle her." and closed the CommuniDex. He ran into the Tower, and to the ninth floor, where Cynthia was watching TV with her Elites. They turned in surprise to see him. Ash grabbed Cynthia, and dragged her away from the others.

"Cynthia, I need your help." Ash whispered urgently.

"What is it?" Cynthia asked.

"Call Grimsley and Jasmine, ad go up to the twelfth floor. Something happened to Phillip, Rosaline, and Jude."

"What are you going to do?" Cynthia was worried.

"I'm going to chase down the person who did this." Ash said grimly, as he pressed the elevator, ready to get some weapons from the gymnasium. "It's time to end this."

* * *

Meanwhile, Pakura was in the forest, wishing she had an ability to use to hide if she could, as although she had crushed her CommuniDex so no one could track her, she still can be seen. Pakura needed to get to Shiki's body to perform the life transference without being caught. As if her prayer was answered, her hand disappeared, much to her surprise. She thought her hand was cut off, but she didn't have a wound, and she could still feel her hand. Her forearm was translucent, and by her elbow she was still visible.

Pakura closed her eyes and slowly concentrated on making her entire body invisible, and made her way to the cave. She quickly turned visible once she entered the cave, as she noted that new abilities are usually far from developed and needed more aura to use.

Sylveon, Skitty, and Eevee watched her in concern. Between the three of them were the piles of Pokéballs she teleported away from Jude, Phillip and Rosaline earlier before their fight.

"I've been caught." Pakura explained to the three who were looking at her in concern. "Looks like I'll have no choice but to use that technique now."

The three of them had sad expressions on their faces.

"Take care of these Pokéballs for now. Make sure no one takes them." Pakura nodded, and she headed towards the ice grave. She took Shiki out of the frozen grave, and caught him. She laid him down and formed a few hand seals, and her hands started glowing white. She placed his hand over the Shiki, and started transferring her life force to him.

"W-What are you doing?" A voice called out.

Pakura found herself being distracted, and her life force returned to her. She turned to see who interrupted her, only to see Lance outside the icy shrine.

Pakura groaned, but shook her head to her Pokémon not to interfere. She forgot to put up her illusion, and that he might visit her to get advice on how to put up a good fight (as Dragon Princess) because she was his next opponent.

Lance, on the other hand, was shell-shocked to see that Pakura had his best friend's body all along, and she never told him that he had died.

Pakura's eyes turned cold in an instant, and the next second Lance found himself flung into a tree, and Pakura approaching for the kill, levitating Shiki behind her. She had equipped herself with a bow and three sheaths full of arrows stuck together that was slung over her back, and Lance assumed that each compartment contained arrows of different functions, as the sheaths were apparently colour-coded. She took one and was about to aim one at Lance when a knife came whizzing in her direction, and Pakura deflected it with her bow and jumped back, carrying Shiki.

"That is enough, Pakura." Ash said, coming into the scene with Pikachu and Lucario.

"I was wondering when you'd confront me." Pakura replied calmly.

"I never thought it has to become like this." Ash shook his head at Pikachu and Lucario to tell them not to interfere no matter what because he had to finish this by his own hand. He looked at the body Pakura was carrying. "And you did have the Dragon Prince too."

"Wait, you are saying my best friend is the Dragon Prince?" Lance was incredulous.

"Was, Lance, was." Ash corrected him. To Pakura, he said, "I'm afraid I'll have to take you down, and find out what really happened to you." He started to cover his fist in lava, and started to punch her, but she nimbly dodged it, causing him to burn the tree that was behind her instead, and reappeared behind him.

'Even if Ash didn't make a direct hit, that intense heat would've burnt the opponent at close range.' Pakura thought. "I'd like to see you try." She replied to Ash's last statement, and put Shiki down. She cooled down the entire place, and it began to snow. After that, she created strong winds that mixed into the snow that resembled a blizzard, and directed them towards the two males.

'Wait a minute, this looks familiar…..' Lance gasped when he realized that this was the blizzard created in Blackthorn only much stronger. 'Don't tell me she was the one who killed our clan.'

As if Ash read his mind, he said, "We found out that the Dragon Princess has killed your entire clan and placed it in an eternal blizzard."

Lance looked at Pakura. "You're not saying the Dragon Princess is…."

"That's right. Meaning the person who killed your clan, and attacked your cousin was her. Right, Pakura?" Ash said challengingly to Pakura, although he was shivering from the cold.

"That's right. And I'm not in the least bit regretful of what I did." Pakura shrugged. "What can you do about it?"

"This." Ash replied, and created multiple stone cubes the size of an extra-large exercise ball and shot them at Pakura. Pakura teleported Shiki's body away, and dodged by jumping, did a backflip and landed on one. Only for the stone to countdown from 3, and explode the moment the stone said, "1". Pakura jumped to another, and one stone came near her, and counted down again.

Pakura jumped away, and started to use her flight abilities to dodge the stone cubes that were hell-bent on coming close to her. She wondered how she can avoid the explosives. She saw Lance and smirked, as she had an idea. Right when the stones converged on her, she swapped positions with Lance using teleportation, and at the same time, all the cubes exploded.

"Lance! Are you alright?" Ash asked, concerned.

"Yeah." Lance replied. "Used my cape to protect myself." He indicated his cape, which was burnt off from taking the brunt of the damage.

"Try to keep a distance. It's going to be dangerous." Ash advised, and walked over to face Pakura. "If you can, find out where Pakura hid your friend's body. Pikachu, Lucario, go with him."

Lance nodded, and sped off, while Ash decided to build up aura in his body, and expel lava from his mouth to the ground to warm up the environment. Pakura jumped to a branch in the tree for safety, but was forced to jump off again as she realized that the lava was corroding the trees (which of course made it somewhat easier to melt her ice), and that the smoke from the lava was obscuring her vision. Ash then decided to create a snake out of magma to attack.

Pakura, sensing the attack, transmuted her aura in the form of a dragon, and shot it towards the incoming magma snake. There was a huge explosion, and she took advantage of it and fired some ice shards that was aimed at Ash's heart, but he turned at the last second to avoid the fatal hit. Ash took out the ice shards and took in the severity of the wound, before covering it with aura so he can continue fighting.

Pakura aimed an arrow at Ash, and he managed to block it with his sword, and the tip of the arrow lodged into the sword. Only for the arrow to explode, and he let go. The sword, however, was undamaged other than a few burn marks.

Ash created multiple crystal shuriken, and used telekinesis to shoot them at Pakura, which Pakura deflected with her gun that she had switched to Beam mode. Using this distraction, he got close to her and tapped her on the shoulder. A bomb appeared on her side.

"This bomb gets bigger every time a participant of the fight gets damaged, and ignites when it gets large enough. Let's see which side it'd explode. Just to let you know, the bomb never exploded on my side." Ash explained.

"Very well." Pakura replied, as she got ready her knife, ready to combat Ash.

As both of them engaged in weapon combat, the bomb went over to each side and got bigger as they got wounded, and when Ash stabbed Pakura's thigh and ejected his sword out again, and big bomb floated over to her side, and Ash jumped back and formed a barrier around him as the bomb exploded.

Pakura walked out with burns on her limbs and part of her face, and as she walked over, Ash watched as she regenerated back to her normal state. She created a wind storm towards Ash, who used levitation to get himself out of range, and landed on the ground safely. Pakura stormed her foot, which created seismic waves through the ground causing an earthquake. Ash jumped up, and floated there instead of plunging downwards, and he realized that he also could fly.

Pakura opened her mouth to say something, but narrowed her eyes, and looked towards the right. She then teleported away. Ash teleported as well to chase her down. There was no way he's letting her get away.

* * *

"You found his body?" Ash asked, nodding towards the corpse Lance was holding. Ash was keeping a lookout for Pakura, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Lance nodded, as he was about to hand the body over to Ash, when an arrow punctured his side, and Lance hissed in pain, letting go of Shiki's body. Ash crouched down to help Lance out with his wound, helping him cover that wound with his aura so that Lance wouldn't need to go to the hospital for the time being. He looked around, knowing that was Pakura's doing, but couldn't see anyone. Just where was she? He casted a circle that is 4 meter in radius, and detected Pakura around the bushes 30 degrees to his right. But he couldn't see her. How?

"I know you are there. No need to hide." Ash said.

Pakura turned visible again, carrying Shiki's body.

'I see. She has invisibility.' Ash thought. 'However, it won't work if I extend my aura and make it into a sphere, as I can detect anyone within that said sphere even if they concealed their aura.' He had developed this specific technique to counter Pakura's aura concealment the other day (he suspected she had one).

'Something tells me she would do anything for that body to not be ruined.' Ash thought. He turned to Lance, and say, "You go back to the cave for safety. I'll meet you back here. I have to handle this myself." He narrowly dodged a bullet, and created crystal needles to shoot at Pakura. She reacted immediately by changing the gun to Needle mode, and shoot at the incoming needles, while carrying Shiki.

'She's really fast.' Ash thought, as a cyclone was approaching him. Pakura had her paper fan out, and was using wind manipulation against him. Ash opened his jacket, which was lined with an impressive array of knives. He took advantage of the cyclone to increase the speed of the knife throwing, and Pakura didn't even have time to dodge. Fortunately, a wall of ice formed as a shield to intercept the knife instantly. While Pakura was distracted, Ash thrust his sword at her, but Pakura took this opportunity to slice his sword into many pieces with her paper fan.

'Crap.' Ash thought, as Pakura breathed wind-infused aura into the palm of her hand, shaping it into a small, whirlwind-like ball, and shot it at Ash. Ash dodged as she launched them in rapid succession. He felt that the forest went darker, and looked up. He gasped when he saw the same dragon Pakura used to counter the magma snake he used, and watched as the dragon shattered in hundreds of smaller aura dragons that rain down from the sky.

Ash quickly created a barrier, that fortunately protected him from the attacks, but he saw it was strong enough to pierce through several layers of ground before dispersing. When the attack ended, Ash took out a knife, and blocked Pakura who was attacking him from behind, and they engaged in a knife combat, with Pakura managing to give him a few more wounds. Ash resorted to forming a crystal blade on his other hand, and managed to stab Pakura with it, and also sending her an aura infused kick, causing her to stumble back. Ash quickly shot two energy bolts at her, hitting her with a lot of force.

Ash used his aura to ignite the lava that he had created earlier before she could heal, and there was an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Pakura was gone, and Ash realized that she got behind him, and when he turned, she sliced just above his stomach. Ash coughed out blood, and covered that wound as well. He quickly jumped to deflect the arrows Pakura shot, and good thing too, as the tree that she hit had caught fire.

Ash jumped, and spun around, throwing his knives at Pakura at such speed Pakura was barely able to catch those knives. He made use of the distraction to crystallise her bow, and shattered the crystal with his aura, causing the bow to disintegrate along with the crystal particles.

'Luckily I didn't use my best bow.' Pakura thought, as she teleported her sheath away, knowing it is now useless without a bow. She took out her gun and changed to Poison Gas mode to hopefully stun Ash for a while, but no luck, as Ash created a ring-shaped wheel made of crystal and spun it to deflect the gas.

'I wasted a lot of aura to fight. I've got to make a distraction so I can escape with Shiki, and use that life transference technique. No way can I make Ash stand down, because of his Indomitable Will, which makes him immune to all forms of temptation, and that includes Psychic powers.'

Pakura retrieved Shiki's body that she had concealed in the bush. She turned and looked into Lance, who was watching them from the cave.

'Alright, then I'll use him.' Her eyes glowed, and Lance's eyes went dull, and he walked out of the cave with a knife he found in the cave, ignoring Pikachu and Lucario's calls for him to come back.

Ash gritted his teeth, and knew he had to chase her down.

"Er…Lance….I thought I said for you to hide in the cave?" Ash asked. Lance did not answer, and raised his arm to stab Ash. Ash retaliated by blocking, and punching Lance in the stomach. He knew Lance was under mind control for now, and he needed to get Lance out of the way before Pakura escapes. But how?

Ash had an idea, and created a Doppelganger using aura. Since the clone itself has aura, Pakura wouldn't be able to tell that it's a clone. Also, if Pakura did disperse the clone, Ash would know where her location is and teleport to her immediately.

He nodded to his clone, who went off in search for Pakura, while he tries to take Lance on.

'He does have some fighting skill.' Ash thought, as he sliced Lance's left arm so as not to injure him badly. 'But is it because he learnt it or Pakura used mind control on him to achieve this?' He jumped, and shot long, sharp crystals at Lance, trapping him. Lance looked around for an opening, only for Ash to strike from above, knocking him out. He then covered Lance's wounds with his aura.

"Lucario, get him back to the cave, and take care of him. I felt Pakura destroy my clone, and I know where she is now. I'll go take care of her." With that, he teleported away.

Pakura scowled when Ash appeared. She clutched to Shiki tightly.

Ash conjured up a large clock with arms. Pakura frowned.

He decided to engage her in hand to hand combat, and Pakura was forced to lay down Shiki's body and take him on. Because she was so distracted checking Shiki's body every now and then to see if stray Pokémon would take him, Ash managed to land a few clean hits towards her. Pakura gritted her teeth as she noticed the light reflecting off Ash's skin, indicating he used crystal as an armour to perform stronger physical attacks. Her bruises disappeared, and she decided to make a far range attack. She shot her gun, which was changed to Beam mode, and shot it at quick succession. Ash simply used his crystal to reflect it back to her, and she was forced to use teleportation to switch places with him, causing him to take damage. The clock arm also moved once.

Every time Ash took damage, the clock arm moved one, and finally, when it reached the initial position, the clock rang.

"Looks like it's the end." Ash said, and he showed Pakura his intense amount of aura.

'What the! Where was he hiding all that aura?' Pakura thought. 'Oh no! Don't tell me that clock was a medium to increase his aura as he takes damage!' She knew for once the Soul Dew was already increasing his aura powers as his abilities are far more powerful than the other three.

Ash picked up a broken piece of crystal, and realized it was glowing red. He used teleportation to get it to Pakura, and it pierced her arm. Pakura took it out, as blood flowed from her wound, but something was wrong.

Her wound wasn't healing. Her aura and psychic abilities aren't working.

'Now's my chance!' Ash conjured crystal salts in Pakura's wound, and forced them into Pakura's red blood cells, and she began to hyperventilate, as extreme pain shot through her entire body (even though she was trained to resist pain it doesn't mean she can't feel it). She gritted her teeth, as she was almost unable to control her limbs grabbed Shiki's body, just as Ash violently flung her with telekinesis, for what she did with the other three Elites.

She realized that both of them were going to hit a tree, and she quickly hugged Shiki and allowed herself to take the full damage, sliding to the ground. She tried to get up, but due to her slowed mental ability (thanks to Ash's ability) her legs gave out. She knew only Ash could remove the crystal particles from her.

Pakura shrugged to herself. She'd probably get executed after today. That didn't matter. That never mattered. She's done with life years ago. Perhaps she'd be with Shiki again. She slowly wound her arms around Shiki and leaned her head against his shoulder. His arm was freezing cold (due to being frozen in the ice for a long time), but to Pakura, it was still the same warm arm she remembered holding onto for comfort and security.

"_You are not afraid, are you?" Shiki asked. Both of them just recently became Blacklist Hunters, and Shiki had just performed a massacre on a group of gangsters. Pakura herself was at one side, watching the scene. There was blood splattered all over his clothes._

"_Me?" Pakura was offended. "Of course not. Because I know no matter how many people you kill, to me, you are still my Shi-chan." _

_Shiki smiled. "That's sweet of you. And to me, no matter what path you choose, even if you choose to be a psychopathic murderer…" ("Hey!" Pakura shouts playfully) "…to me, you'll always be my Paku, the sweet girl I fell in love with." _

"_Could you promise one thing?" Pakura asked. _

"_Hmm?" _

"_Should one of us die….if the other dies as well, promise the first person will come get the second?" _

"_You didn't have to ask. Of course I'll come for you." _

"You were always at my side until you died, the least I can do is to be beside you at the end." Pakura mused, feebly coughing out blood. "I wonder if Arceus would be kind enough to let me go to the same place as you." Pakura made herself comfortable, using Shiki's arm as a pillow, and blacked out as Ash's ability finally took its toll on her.

Meanwhile, Ash hesitated. He thought she would have used his body as a shield, but she never did. He knew he saw Pakura protecting the corpse as she hit the tree, and she took the full damage.

'She must've valued the person more than her own life.' Ash thought, walking towards the direction he sent Pakura flying. Ash felt a little saddened when he saw the scene before him, and crouched down to Pakura, removing the crystals in her bloodstream. He used telekinesis to carry the Dragon Duo, and back to the cave.

"**You won!" **Pikachu looked happy to see Ash alive.

Ash nodded, and as he placed the bodies down, Sylveon, Skitty, and Eevee rushed over to their owner, checking on her.

"Don't worry, she's alive." Ash said to them, as he went to get a bucket of water, and dumped it on Lance's head. Lance woke up, spluttering.

"What happened?" Lance asked, looking around, and falling silent when he saw the Dragon Duo.

"Are you alright?" Ash asked, and Lance nodded.

"Good. Now let's go. We're going to get our answers to the mysteries that haunted everyone. You can come too, you deserve to know why Pakura destroyed your clan and attacked your cousin." Ash teleported everyone back to the twelfth floor living room, and also included the Pokéballs belonging to the three Elites.

Cynthia came out of the destroyed room, and smiled, as she saw Ash was safe, although she was a little surprised to see Lance. Then she saw one of the bodies Ash was levitating.

"Is that?" Cynthia asked.

"Yeah, it's the Dragon Prince. He's dead." Ash replied. "Is everyone else ok?"

Cynthia nodded. "Yes, they used aura to cover their wounds so they won't need to go to the hospital for the time being. They want answers too."

"Tell them to come to my room." Ash replied, as he took out his card key and unlocked the door, laying the Dragon Duo side by side on his bed, just as everyone else came in. Rosaline herself needed support from Grimsley, and Jude was trying not to move one of his arms.

"You guys look really terrible." Ash remarked, seeing the multiple wounds, bruises and burns all over their bodies and the amount of dried blood on their clothes and makeshift bandages. Jude and Rosaline even had broken limbs. "You are so going to the hospital once we get our answers."

There was no objections, as he walked over to Pakura, and placed a hand on her forehead, trying to scan her mind with his psychic powers. Suddenly, Pakura opened her eyes, and it was glowing. When everyone looked into her eyes, they passed out.

* * *

Ash woke up to find that he was in some black space, along with everyone else, including their Pokémon. He stood up and dusted himself off. He noted that his, along with the other three Elites', injuries were gone. Also, their Pokémon (at least those that are always kept outside Pokéballs was with them (except Rosaline's Espeon, Phillip's Emolga and Dedenne, and Jude's Liepard).

"What happened?" Grimsley groaned, looking at his surroundings. No one noticed a boy sneaking up on Lance, and covering his eyes. Lance tried to get the hands off, but failed.

"Guess who?" The boy said. Ash turned, as the voice sounded familiar from his dreams, and saw Shiki, the Dragon Prince, snickering.

"Get off me!" Lance shouted.

"Not until you guess who I am." Shiki replied.

"How am I supposed to know who you are?" Lance said incredulously.

"Aww, I'm hurt, you can't recognize me by my voice, Lance-y?" Shiki mock pouted.

Lance stopped. Only one person calls him by that name. "Shiki?" He called out.

"Bingo!" Shiki removed his hands, and Lance found himself staring at his childhood friend as an adult. Shiki was wearing a white shirt and a semi-casual black blazer, complete with black pants and tan boots, the same outfit that Lance saw him in when he was battling Pakura in an exhibition match. "Glad to see you are doing well. Hey, Sylveon." He petted Pakura's Sylveon, who recognized him and bounded to him.

"Where are we Shiki?" Lance cried. "And how are you here? You're dead!"

"You're in Pakura's mind. That answers your first question. As for the second, I'll explain later. For now, you want to know the events that connected the mysteries. But, I am warning you, there would be a heavy price to be paid by all of you, as it's a close-guarded secret I'm about to reveal." Shiki said. "Are you all willing to pay the price?"

"What's the price?" Ash frowned.

"I'm not allowed to tell you. I'll only tell you once everything is revealed. So, yes or no?" Shiki asked. The group looked at each other, before finally nodding.

Shiki smiled. "Excellent. Oh, and since this is Pakura's mind, for now all of you would be able to understand Pokéspeech. I know half of you can't." He looked amusedly at Jasmine, Cynthia, Grimsley and Lance, who gave him the look that clearly stated to leave him alone. "Anyway, I'll review the memories from the beginning. It might take a while for me to tell you the entire tale."

_They appeared what looked like to be a city, and some of them (namely Lance) recognized it to be Blackthorn City around twenty years ago. Everyone walked past them, doing their business, not alarmed that 9 people had suddenly appeared in the middle of the square. They were angry murmuring among the people, and Shiki got closer to the people talking, beckoning to the others to follow him. _

"_She's going to taint the purity of the Dragon Clan…." One was saying. _

"_Yeah, why does that girl have to be born?" Another muttered. _

"_I hear she's born from a one night stand…" A third says. _

"_Hear she stole the Dragon Clan's gift. A thief, she is!" A fourth grumbled. "She's not one of us!" _

"_Hopefully she gets kicked out of Blackthorn soon. I can't stand to even see her in the streets one more time." A fifth cursed. "Glad I threw that tomato at her." _

_Shiki rushed over to a house, where a woman with an ugly hooked nose was unlocking the door, and entering. The group followed Shiki into the house. The woman hissed in anger as she grabbed a bottle of wine, and gulped it down. _

"_That thing shouldn't be born in the first place!" The woman muttered to herself. "Bane of my existence. I never even intended to have her…." She checked the clock. "Huh, maybe it's time to feed her….nah, who cares about her?" She continued drinking her wine, and shuffled towards her bedroom, but heard murmuring. Her mother stormed to the door, which was full of locks, and unlocked the door. The room was completely bare, and it was full of rubbish that people throw in through the bar grills at her, to show their contempt for her. _

_The woman saw a younger Shiki talking to her daughter through those bar grills. _

"_What are you doing?" The woman shouted. The girl turned around, fear written in her eyes. Everyone realized that was Pakura as a little toddler. Everyone noted that with her huge amethyst eyes and long black hair, with a curious look about it, made her exceptionally cute even for a child. _

_She was wearing a blue skirt and red blouse, but they were stained thanks to the food people throw at her through the bar grills due to her cursed birth, and her parents never bothered getting her new clothes or washing her clothes, just keeping her locked here 24/7. _

"_My daughter isn't troubling you, is she, Shiki?" The woman asked, dangerously calm. _

"_No, not at all, madam, I was the one who talked to her." Shiki shook his head, hoping to get her out of trouble. _

_The woman chuckled. "No need to lie for her, my daughter is a very troublesome girl. I'll see to discipline her accordingly." With that, she grabbed Pakura by the hair, and dragged her, ready for her discipline. Pakura simply looked at Shiki like a kicked Growlithe as her mother dragged her out, and Shiki shot her a worried look. _

"What the heck!" Ash was outraged. How dare they treat a child this way! His Pokémon were also making noises of protest.

Everyone looked disgusted at the treatment. Grimsley's Eevee was whimpering.

"Well, yeah that was how they treated her when she was in Blackthorn. No one liked her thanks to her birth." Shiki said. "I talked to her because she was so cute, and I sort of fell in love with her at first sight. How can someone that cute be cursed?"

"Indeed." Ash replied.

* * *

_"How dare you!" The same woman whipped Pakura once more, sending her to the ground with a cry. They were in the basement where no one can see what is happening. "Who do you think you are, talking to one of the prodigies of our clan? You are nothing, you worthless freak!"_

"_B-But mummy, I didn't talk to the boy, I swear…" She was cut off when her mother hit her on the mouth. _

"_I don't need to hear any excuses from you." The mother sneered. With that, she struck Pakura with the whip particularly hard, sending her a few feet away. Before Pakura could even recover, her mother's hand swung out in a hard slap that caught her right across the cheek, and then a vicious backhand that reddened her other cheek, and caused her to stumble back. _

"_Shouldn't even exist, you're nothing but a curse." The mother muttered, whipping Pakura's face with the whip. Pakura hung her head with shame, giving her the sorry eyes. _

"_Don't give me that look!" Her mother snapped, punching her in the arm. "You're already born, the damage is done. The more I think of this, the angrier I GET! With you talking to the boy? What audacity." With that, Pakura was whipped hard on the legs, and was kicked in the stomach, causing her to land on her butt, winded. Her mother then grabbed her by her neck, and brought her back to her room (more like a cell), and roughly threw her in, before locking the doors again. _

_Pakura sadly took in the whip marks, handprints and bruises that was seen on her hands and legs, courtesy of her mother. Apparently, the more the mother thought of her talking to the boy, the angrier she got and decided to vent it by hitting her more. _

_Some of her wounds were bleeding, and she had no choice but to use some of the old cloth that people throw in to stem the bleeding, as there was no first aid kit. _

_She had the saddest look on her face with tears running down her face, as she picked up an old doll which seemed to be her only friend and companion. The doll looked to be one of the objects someone threw in from her bar grills as an insult. _

_She said to the doll, "Why do people call me the Cursed Child? Did a witch come curse my mummy before she have me? Poor mummy, she must be so hurt. How do you think I can take away her pain? I love my mummy." Despite being only a toddler, she was already capable of speech, which was rather commendable. _

_The doll did not answer, but Pakura went on, "I wonder why everybody hates me. Was it something I said or do? I don't remember doing anything."_

_Just then, she heard voices, and Pakura looked at her doll before creeping up to the door to listen. _

"_She had the gall to talk to the heir of the Kurobane family, that girl!" Her mother was screeching. _

"_That's because we haven't done anything to her. Wait until we give her away, she'll be away from the prodigies of our clan." The man replied. "Our boss offered to take her away from our hands, you know. He promised she'd be off our hands and we won't see her even if we come to work." _

"_Good. Tell our boss we say yes. I can't stand to have her as a sister anymore." A third voice said. "Did you know what my friends said about her? She ruined my social life!"_

"_Yeah, without her, our lives would be better." A fourth said. _

_Pakura stumbled back, and shuffled to the corner of the room, and secretly cried. _

"Poor kid." Rosaline started crying, being the emotional one. Lance was gritting his teeth as he watched the scandal of his own clan seniors with his own eyes.

"And I haven't even told half the story yet." Shiki sighed, scratching Sylveon on the ears.

* * *

"_Ugh! My mum just said I can't have any more candy, I hate them!" A voice said._

_Pakura's ears perked, and she headed to the bars to see who just said that. She watched as a young girl with light blue hair and blue eyes complaining to a boy with red hair and another guy with messy black hair, the latter whom she recognized. _

"_Now, Clair, you ate 6 pieces already, she's doing that so you don't have tooth decay so early." The boy with red hair said. _

"_Yeah." A third person commented. "They love you, that's why they are doing this!" _

"_No, I want more candy!" Clair was throwing a tantrum. "I hate them!"_

"_How can anyone say that about their parent?" Pakura wondered to her doll._

"_You are too old to throw a tantrum. Besides, you're already better off than some of the children in Blackthorn." Lance said. _

"_Yeah? Who?" Clair asked. _

"_That child everyone hates for some weird reason?" Shiki answered. _

"_Uh, everyone is supposed to hate her. She's the Cursed Child. She doesn't deserve anything." Clair shrugged. "Elders said so." _

"_I don't know." Shiki replied. "I mean, she's so cute. Went to see her the other day, but she got into trouble."_

"_You went to see her?" Clair was incredulous. "That's against the Elder's rules, Shiki." _

"_And I don't care, do I? Wonder how she is now. Hopefully she's ok." He turned to look, and Pakura ducked her head down. _

"_She's probably hiding under the window and crying." Clair commented, when she saw no one at the bar grills. "Some baby she is." _

"_Uh….Clair, she is a toddler." Lance said. _

"_Whatever. Don't you dare go see her again, Shiki." Clair warned. _

"_You can't really stop me, can you?" Shiki asked in a bored tone. Lance was looking between the two, not sure whose side to take. _

"_Lance! What do you think?" Clair asked her cousin. _

"_I…" Lance began to speak. Just then, there was a woman's voice calling them for dinner. _

"_Let's go, it's dinnertime." Lance mumbled. _

_Pakura sat down, frowning. "Her parents is so worried about her, doesn't even want her to get a toothache. Bet they'd come running if she was bleeding, you know. I'd do anything for my parents to be worried about me." She mumbled to the doll. _

_Just then, the door opened, and a teenage boy came in, carrying a tray of food. He looked disgusted at her fearful eyes. _

"_Hey, shrimp. Why are you hiding like that? No one else is scared of seeing the outside. Why are you? Some baby you are." Her brother commented. _

_Pakura stayed quiet. _

"_Anyway, our parents want you to eat these. Says you have to eat them all." He placed down the bowl. Pakura looked at the food. It was fish stew along with a cup of water. Pakura shrugged, and started eating, but didn't like the sliminess of the stew, as she had to swallow like three times before it really goes down. She downed the glass of water, and placed the tray near the door. _

_However, a few minutes later, she felt dizzy. _

"_W-What's happening?" Pakura asked, but there was no answer. She saw down to try and ease the dizziness in her head, but to no avail. Eventually, she fell unconscious, clutching to the old doll. _

_The door opened, and a man in a business suit walked in, along with Pakura's parents. _

"_So that's her?" Giovanni asked. "The child you want to offer for our aura project?" _

"_That's right. Please take our daughter. She's sure to help out with your project well and for the expansion and conquest of Team Rocket! All for Boss Giovanni's sake!" The parents saluted the Boss. _

"_Very well." Giovanni said. "Take her away." Two grunts came in, grabbed Pakura, and took her to the Team Rocket van. Halfway, the old doll fell from her hands, and was flattened by the van as it ran over the doll. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a pair of resentful purple eyes. _

"_Good work, both of you. You'll be rewarded." Giovanni praised. _

"The food must've contained drugs to knock her out." Grimsley whispered. "Why else would they be willing to feed her now?" His Eevee was crying at his side as he watched the scene.

"Yeah, I was upset when I watched them take her away. This is probably the reason why she attacked Clair, because she hated it when people take their families for granted." Shiki said, frowning at the scene, though he had seen it before. Rosaline, Jude and Phillip looked guilty.

* * *

_Pakura opened her eyes, and found herself in some cell that was quite small- three feet by three feet. She knew this wasn't the room her parents had locked her in._

_Her eyes widened in fear. Where was she? What was she doing here? Where're her parents? _

_The door opened, and Giovanni walked in. He smirked when he saw that the child was awake._

"_You're awake, I see." _

_Pakura gulped. "Who are you? And why am I here?" _

_Giovanni nodded in approval. "Good speech for a kid. That'll make you even more useful. I am Giovanni, and I am the boss of Team Rocket. Your parents gave you to me for a project you're about to be a part of." _

_Pakura frowned. She didn't like the sound of it. "My mummy and daddy won't give me away! They love me!" _

_Giovanni laughed, coldly, dismissively. "Oh really? They gave you to me, saying you'd be useful in our project. In fact, they gave you food that was drugged so you wouldn't resist when I come for you." _

_Pakura took a step back, shaking her head. "No, it can't be. They love me."_

"_Keep telling yourself that, Cursed Child. Blackthorn doesn't want you. They crossed your name off the list of members of the Dragon Clan." Giovanni said truthfully. _

_A sheen of sweat appeared on Pakura's forehead as she tried to work an answer to counter Giovanni's argument. "All adults love their children. They won't do that. They-"_

"_Well, keep telling yourself that. " Giovanni replied. "Let's see if your parents love you enough to get you out of here. No matter, we'll start our experiments tomorrow." Giovanni said, as he left the room, leaving Pakura to think if her parents really left her. _

"Poor girl." Cynthia was appalled. "How could they do this to her?"

"You're talking about an organization that experiments on Pokémon, Cynthia." Shiki replied, as he changed the scene. "The ones that treat Pokémon as tools."

* * *

"_How's the progress going, Dr. Namba, Professor Sebastian and Dr. Zager?" Giovanni asked his three best scientists. All three of them are looking at the tube that contained Pakura. She was flowing in some liquid and was apparently in oblivion state, as her eyes were closed and she provided no resistance._

"_Great, Boss Giovanni." Dr. Namba replied. "The weapon is developing nicely. We injected her with both an aura user's and a psychic's DNA, while retaining her own, and she surprisingly survived. She would retain her own DNA alright, but hopefully she might be able to replicate aura and psychic abilities once we're done with the entire experiment." _

"_I suggest experimenting on her every now and then instead of all at once, lest we kill this child, and put our efforts to waste." Dr. Zager said. "She could be our key to defeat all those pesky aura users." They knew that some people who interfere with their projects were aura users or even psychics, which made it difficult for them to counter. _

"_She would be our key into getting rid of those aura users and psychics." Professor Sebastian said. "As we only have one, I suggest when we are not experimenting on her, we make sure she has other assets so she won't be taken down easily." _

"_Very well. I'll leave it up to you three to bring out her other assets so she wouldn't be taken down by the other aura users or psychics." Giovanni said. "My grunts would be at your disposal to help out." _

"_Thank you, Boss Giovanni. You're too kind." The three saluted. _

"So, she was never born with aura?" Ash asked.

"No, unless you count the fact that she unconsciously use aura when she battles with Dragon Pokémon. I mean, that ability appears in one person for every generation. That ability enabled her to uncannily improve in Dragon Training with every battle. It's useless in actual combat, really." Shiki replied. "But yes, she was never born with it, it was given to her via an experiment."

The Pokémon looked like they wanted to hurl, Cynthia looked disgusted, Jasmine and Rosaline horrified, Phillip and Jude looked mad, and Ash and Lance looked grim.

"Also, she was experimented on more than once, you know. Needed a powerful aura weapon to counter those 'pesky' aura users and psychics that sometimes meddle with them." Shiki nodded, before he changed the scene.

* * *

_Pakura was walking in the new clothes they gave her. It was a drab grey, and too loose for her, and she had to roll up the sleeves so that it won't be dragging around the floor._

_She saw a woman talking to a Team Rocket admin (judging by the uniform), and happily recognized her as her mother. _

"_Mummy!" Pakura went over to hug her mother's legs. _

"_You have a daughter?" The admin asked, raising her eyebrows at the girl. _

"_No." Her mother said coldly. "You're no daughter of mine!" She pushed Pakura to the ground, and she looked at her mother with a sad and puzzled expression. "Don't come near me or my husband ever again!"_

"_But mummy, you love me don't you?" _

"_Love you? I never did! Ugh, you were born from someone other than my husband, that doesn't make you a full-fledged Dragon Clan member! I would not have such filth in my house. Grunts, take her away. It's time for her to learn to be good." _

_Two grunts came, and Pakura clutched to her mother again. "Mummy! Please don't let them take me away!" _

"_Don't touch me with your filthy hands!" Her mother said harshly, pushing her to the Grunts, and the force was enough to knock her out. They took her to another room filled with devices that made Pakura shudder due to their frightening appearance. _

_Pakura was tied to a chair, as one of the grunts took a bucket of icy cold water and dumped it on her head. Pakura spluttered and coughed, shivering from the icy cold water. One of the grunts hit her on the face, causing her to cough blood out to the ground. For tainting the ground, she got another hit, eliciting a cry._

"_What's wrong? Aren't you going to call for your mummy or daddy to save you?" _

_Pakura stayed silent, as she remembered what happened when she went for her mother. _

"_Well, no matter. Professor Sebastian said it's time for you to learn." The second grunt said, nodding to the first grunt, who grabbed her head, and dunked her head under the bucket of water. There was struggling and gurgling noises, and after 3 minutes, she was let out again, and she was coughing out water. _

"_Now, then, Electivire, come on out, and use Thunder!" The grunt sent out the Thunderbolt Pokémon, and the Electivire shot Thunder full power at a soaked Pakura. Once she was shocked, she screamed in pain. It was held for a full minute before the Thunder move was ended, and Pakura fell to the ground, panting. _

"_Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: Professor Sebastian said you are not to scream when you are hit. You'll be punished for ever second you scream. Gideon, how long did she scream?" The grunt asked. _

"_All sixty seconds. Hit her once with every second she screamed." The grunt replied, nodding towards the tools in the chamber. "You can use any tool you want. Just don't kill her. If she screams during the punishment, hit her harder." _

_The second grunt grinned, and picked out a multi-tailed whip, and attached to the end was little metal balls with spikes. Pakura gulped as the man raised the whip, and lashed out at her, leaving her with parallel whip marks and even bleeding wounds. _

_For the first time, Pakura narrowed her eyes. _

Some people in the group started crying at the torture, while others were still shell-shocked. Phillip wished he could go over to comfort that young girl, but they knew no one could hear or see them since it was a memory.

"W-Was this how…?" Phillip couldn't finish his sentence.

"How she was able to endure large amounts of electricity? Yes. She was soaked and then electrocuted because water lowers the resistance of the body, hence making it much easier to electrocute. She was exposed to almost every single Electric-type moves that was known during her time there. Also, they didn't just use Electric-type Pokémon to electrocute her, they use their own devices too, such as the electric chair, and she was often electrocuted for training and punishment purposes. They increase the voltage as they go along, to make her the strongest weapon they ever had." Shiki explained. "Because of this soaking in water before electrocuting, to an extent, she has Aquaphobia, you know, and she can't swim at all. But that's not the only thing they do." With that, he changed the scene around them.

* * *

_An slightly older Pakura, probably around 5, was making her way to the dining hall along with two grunts that is to make sure she doesn't tried to escape when not confined to her cell. Her body was full of bruises, scars and burns, thanks to their "training." Also, the expression on her face was more forbidding, apparently from what happened two years ago, when her mother renounced her as her daughter in front of her._

_Pakura slid her tray along the metal shelf before the vats of food, and breakfast was placed on her tray. _

_People see her, and whisper among themselves, wondering why she would be out here instead of at her place in the cell. Apparently, they thought she never needed to eat or drink as they never saw her as a living being. _

_To an extent, maybe that was true, as she was only fed once a week. She survived by drinking water, which was all she needed by that time. _

_She silently made her way to a table, and sat at the end of the table, and shovelled down her food, when suddenly she choked, and dropped her food, as she felt her throat was burning. But how? The grunts simply watched as she convulsed to the ground and foamed on the mouth. They watched for a minute before injecting the antidote, and she finally gained control of her nerves. _

_One of the grunts took out a notebook, and wrote something down. "From now on, you'll be trained to endure different types of poison. That was just the beginning. We'll bring in all the different types of poison and Poison moves from Pokémon, and see how long you last before needing the antidote. Punishment would be given if you don't meet the time requirement." _

"_Would I be told what the time requirement is?" Pakura panted, wiping saliva off the corner of her mouth._

"_Nope, that way you won't cheat. It'll be kept a secret from you."_

"And this is how she was immune to poison in adulthood. They needed a weapon that is hard to destroy by aura users and psychics, which is why they do this." Shiki said to everyone, who had eyes the size of dinner plates. How could they poison such an innocent girl?

* * *

_A six-year-old Pakura coughed out blood as she got beaten up by various members of Team Rocket to increase her endurance. To scream means a failure to endure and she'd be punished accordingly. Pakura gritted her teeth as one of them managed to knock her front teeth out, causing her to spit out more blood. _

"_That'd be all for today." Dr. Zager said, scribbling his observations. "Take her back to her cell." _

_Pakura was dragged limply by the grunts. Her body was full of fresh wounds, and her body was so mutilated that she was unable to move. She was thrown roughly into the cell once more, and the doors locked. _

"_I wish I have something to heal my wounds. They never heal my wounds saying I needed to endure the pain." Pakura tentatively moved her fingers, and winced as it brought excruciating pain. She knew she had cracked ribs, and a deep cut around her neck in addition to her multiple injuries she got from her previous torture. "I need to live….and get revenge against them!" The hatred was clearly shown in her eyes. _

_She gasped as her wounds sopped bleeding, and slowly started to heal, and even scars from her previous torture had disappeared. _

_Pakura grinned as the last of her wounds vanished. "Maybe I can survive this after all."_

"So Healing Regenerative Factor was her first ability?" Ash asked.

"Yeah. She never really had any offensive ability early on." Shiki replied, as he changed scene.

* * *

_Pakura was trying to practice throwing knives. She threw one of the knives and missed the target by several feet. She slumped to the ground with a huff. "Man, those things are heavy." she mumbled._

_She was already tired after the stretching they made her do (which hurts), hours of strengthening exercise skills (hurts as well) and a five mile run within a certain timing, or else it's punishment. _

"_Missed again?" A curt voice said. Pakura widened her eyes, and turned to see Profesor Sebastian frowning in disapproval. "Well, there'll be punishment for you." _

_With that, she found herself with a single knife and a grunt wielding an axe that was 5 times bigger than the weapon they gave her. _

"_You can fight back, I'll recommend it." Professor Sebastian smirked, as Pakura began trying to dodge the axe, or else she'd get chopped up in an instant. _

_Pakura yelped, as the axe broke her wrist, and Professor Sebastian announced that's one more punishment she'd have to endure for yelling. _

"So, it's either she gets the target, or she's trained for hand to hand combat and dodging skills as punishment. Team Rocket wanted a weapon that can fight and came up with a clever program, I must say, although I disapprove." Shiki said. "That was how she was trained."

"No wonder she's good at using weapons." Ash remembered Pakura being able to wield most of the weapons in the gym, and being one of the best in hand-to-hand combat.

Shiki nodded to confirm Ash's suspicions, and changed the scene.

* * *

"_You know what I want, right, my weapon?" Giovanni was leading an 8-year-old Pakura to her next "training."_

"_Yes, I get it. I'm Team Rocket's weapon, and I am to be used by Team Rocket only. Please use me as a tool that does as you wish." She learnt the hard way that if she said one word wrong, she'd get punished again. _

"_Very good." With that, she was conducted to a room with a grunt that was to "train" her. He grabbed her, and tied her to a chair, and send out his Butterfree. _

"_Butterfree, Sleep Powder!" Pakura struggled to keep awake as Butterfree kept scattering Sleep Powder all over her. After 30 seconds, she fell asleep. The grunt frowned, grabbed Pakura's head, and dunked her head in a pail full of water for three minutes, before letting her out. _

"_Butterfree, Electroweb." The grunt ordered coldly, as Butterfree trapped Pakura in an electric web that electrocuted her, but instead of screaming, she merely gritted her teeth this time. _

"_Thirty seconds is disappointing. I expected one minute." The grunt said. He threw her a small knife, which she used to cut the ropes, and he was now wielding a sword. _

"_Now, you know what the punishment is, right?" _

_Pakura readied her knife, and narrowed her eyes. Both of them charged at each other with their respective weapons, and of course, Pakura was disarmed easily, due to the size of their weapons. She managed to dodge for a minute before growing tired, and she let herself be sliced by the sword, blood staining the floor and the sword. _

Everyone winced, as Shiki explained this was how they trained her to put up psychic shields as well, so no psychic can extract information from her about Team Rocket.

* * *

_An older Pakura, probably at least 10, was trembling in fear in the sewer, flashlight in hand. By this time, her fringe had grown beyond her eyes, so no one could really see her expression at the moment, but judging by the shaking, she was probably scared._

_Her flashlight can be used to check the tunnels and darkened areas, and ward away Pokémon such as Muk and others that like to lurk in this place, but had limited battery life. She also had to listen out for Pokémon's breathing or footsteps at the door and if she saw them, she can turn on the flashlight to make them go away, and if they don't, she must hurry to another safety area. _

"_Please let me out. Please! Please let me out..." Pakura trembled, praying someone would get her out soon, as she was scared of what might get her. _

_Just then, the sewer entrance opened, and two grunts stepped in. Seeing their weapon, they handcuffed and blindfolded her, and took her away, as the "training" had ended and they are to take her back to the Headquarters. _

_Unbeknownst to them, someone riding a Charizard had seen them, and was now following them. He saw a girl being taken by them and recognized the girl by the conversation the Team Rocket members were having. _

_The boy let out his Espeon and returned his Charizard. _

"_Espeon, Psychic." He pointed to the guards, and Espeon knocked them out. Shiki rushed over to get their clothes, and disguised himself as a Team Rocket Grunt. _

"_Espeon, destroy the door with Psybeam." Shiki said, and the Psybeam destroyed the door, causing explosions. When the grunts tried to get Shiki, he simply asked Espeon to attack using Swift. _

_"What's going on?" A guard shouted, as explosions occurred from above their floor. There were three guards with guns standing in front of a door, probably guarding whatever that was inside. Judging by their uniforms, with them were a Gloom, a Weezing and a Drapion. _

_The door in front of them burst open, and Shiki came in with his Espeon. _

_"Oh, it's just you. What's going on there?" A second guard asked the grunt that had just entered._

_Shiki stayed silent, and just kept looking at the ground._

_"Did something happen?" The third guard asked. "You don't seem fine to me."_

_"Is our Boss okay?" The first guard asked the fourth. "Is that why you're looking so grim?"_

_Shiki's head went up to face them. "Oh yes, the Boss managed to escape. But I doubt you will." He was smirking, as he knew the girl wasn't far from him. _

_"You-!" The fourth person knocked out the guard closest to him, and the other two opened fire, while ordering their Pokémon to attack._

_"Espeon, Psychic!" The Pokémon's attacks and the bullets stopped in mid-air, and it was sent back to the senders, causing them to run. Only to run into the boy himself, who had blocked the doorway._

_"Where are you going?" Shiki asked._

_The grunts barely had time to react, before Shiki knocked them all out with a dart that probably was dipped in some sedative drug. Sure enough, the grunts passed out the second the dart touched their skins, and Espeon meanwhile, took out their Pokémon._

_Shiki crouched down, and searched the guards, finally finding a set of keys. Shiki used a key to open the door, only to find another door behind it. Shiki seemed unfazed, used a second key to unlock it, only to find a third door behind it._

_"Espeon, it looks like this weapon of theirs are under heavy lock. It must've been a successful experiment if there were such heavy guard." Espeon nodded, as Shiki started unlocking all the doors. Shiki unlocked 9 of them before he unlocked the last door, to reveal a really cramped cell, Pakura was unconscious in the middle of the floor, and the boy crouched down to check on her. _

_"I finally found you." Shiki whispered, sounding rather happy. He carried the weapon with the blanket. "Espeon, could you get Charizard's Pokéball out for me?"_

_Espeon nodded, and did as it was told, and let Charizard out. Charizard materialized, and looked around, puzzled, until he saw his Trainer. _

_"You can't take that weapon away from us!" A grunt shouted feebly, reaching out a hand to try and stop the boy, only for his hand to be stepped on painfully. "Giovanni had funded so much for this project and our three best scientists spent 10 years perfecting it."_

_"Then tell those idiots to experiment on themselves, if you want a human weapon so much. Charizard, we're getting out of here." He nodded his head towards Pakura in his arms. Charizard grunted in acknowledgement, and allowed Shiki and Espeon to climb on his back, and using Hyper Beam to destroy the ceiling, and flying into the sky._

"You rescued her?" Lance was surprised.

"Hey, by that time I learnt how to use aura. I sort of realized I had aura by accident when an aura user hit me with an aura-infused punch, and my body received that aura and it caused it to unlock my own." Shiki explained. "Of course, I practiced for months. I'm no aura genius, unlike some who are able to discover and learn to manipulate their aura on their own without having formally learned it."

He nodded to Ash and Rosaline, who wondered how he knew about that. "I sensed her aura, and of course, I managed to track her down despite the Headquarters being large." Shiki went on, as he changed the scene.

* * *

_Pakura opened her eyes, and found herself in a sleeping bag in a tent. Next to her was some strange boy._

_Pakura backed away, wondering if it's yet another "training" from the Team Rocket course. Right at that moment, Shiki opened his eyes. _

"_Hey, you're awake!" Shiki smiled at her. Pakura, however, did not smile back, instead casting him a wary look. Just who is the boy and why is he acting friendly? She hung her head, letting her fringe cover her face. _

"_You don't have to be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. My name is Shiki Kurobane. Nice to meet you." Shiki held out his hand. Pakura kept quiet, looking at the hand as if it was about to bite. _

"_You're frightened." Shiki stated. That statement caused Pakura to tilt her head. _

"_You're hungry, aren't you?" Shiki asked gently. Pakura kept quiet, which Shiki assumed to be a yes. He took out a sandwich from a backpack, and handed it to Pakura. Pakura unwrapped the sandwich, and nibbled on it, probably wary of any poison._

_Shiki smiled as he watched her consume the food. _

_Pakura showed signs of surprise when she didn't detect any poison in it. _

"_Glad you liked it." Shiki grinned, and Pakura fidgeted uncomfortably. "Don't worry. They won't come for you. I'll make sure of it." _

"_Do you have a name?" Shiki asked. _

"_Er….the weapon?" Pakura said._

_Shiki frowned, eyes narrowed. "That is not a name. Is this what they call you?" _

_Pakura whimpered, thinking Shiki would punish her. She nodded frantically, hoping she'd get out of punishment. _

"_Don't worry. I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at those Team Rocket idiots who don't even give you a proper name! If they didn't give you a name, I'll give you one." _

_Shiki had a thoughtful look to his face. "I'll name you Pakura, I'll call you Paku for short. It's the first name of the first PAL Princess, Pakura Goldstein. You last name would be Ameyuri, which means "beneficial rain". What do you think?" _

_The newly named Pakura shrugged. "At least I have a name now. Better than nothing." _

_Shiki unconsciously clenched his fists. Just what did Team Rocket do to her? _

"Wait a minute, Pakura Ameyuri isn't her real name?" Ash was shocked.

"Yeah, that girl didn't even know her birthday, blood type or age. I had to give it to her." Shiki replied, disgusted at their treatment towards her.

The others looked at one another, still trying to process that their Leader doesn't know anything about herself.

"What stats did you give her?" Lance asked.

"I gave her birthday as August 12, Blood Type as A, and age as 10. That's the age people start their Pokémon journey." Shiki shrugged.

* * *

_Pakura and Shiki was sleeping in the tent when Pakura started shaking and screaming things like, "Help, let me out!" The commotion woke Shiki up, and he proceeded to hug her, and help calm her down._

"_Shh….it's ok. They may have locked you in your cell again. Don't be scared. I am here with you." Shiki stroked her hair, soothing her. _

_Pakura opened her eyes and found herself in Shiki's arms. _

"_I know. It's a bad dream. Just a bad dream." Shiki said, smiling. "What say we see the stars?"_

_Pakura nodded, and they both sat outside to look at the millions of stars in the sky. _

"_Aren't they beautiful? Do you like it?" Shiki asked. _

_Pakura smiled and nodded, feeling at peace. _

_Just then, she heard a click, and Shiki pushed her down, missing a knife that was aimed for her. Shiki retaliated by taking out a gun, and shooting it at the direction where the knife came from. There was a yelp, and Shiki ran over, followed closely by a nervous Pakura. _

_A Team Rocket grunt was on the ground, clutching to his bleeding shoulder. _

"_Now, why are you attacking us in the middle of the night?" Shiki asked coldly. _

_The grunt kept his mouth shut, refusing to answer. _

"_Now if you don't answer, I'll have to extract it from you, and I'll kill you. If you willingly tell me, I might spare you. Now tell me!" He hissed. _

"_I was trying to take out the weapon. She's a danger now that she has escaped from Team Rocket." The man answered. "She disobeyed us and now she must pay." _

_Shiki laughed coldly. "Is that what you all think of her as? A mere weapon?" _

_When the grunt gulped, Shiki said, "Say goodbye!" _

"_Wait, you said you'd spare me if I told you!" The grunt protested. _

"_I said might. Now I choose not to." A gunshot rang out. _

"You killed him?" Ash asked.

Shiki nodded. "I'd do anything to protect her. She was a little traumatized, so I agreed to let her share a sleeping bag with me for comfort."

* * *

_Pakura was playing with Shiki's Espeon trying to calm herself down from last night's events, when Shiki came up to her holding an Egg in an Egg case. The Egg was brown with a cream-colored zigzag stripe around its middle._

"_Here, I am sure you'd like a Pokémon you call your own." Shiki offered her the case. "I got the Egg from a day-care worker. For now, I'm content with my team, so you can have it." _

_Pakura trembled, as she remembered the Pokémon attacking her back when she was under Team Rocket's custody. Shiki saw her trembling and gave her a reassuring smile. _

"_Don't worry. I believe you can handle a Pokémon, because I'll be here to guide you." _

"_Will I be punished if I fail?" Pakura asked. _

"_Punished?" Shiki looked appalled at the thought of punishing her. "No, not at all. I'll just give you more help. So, what do you say?" _

_Pakura looked at the Egg, and reluctantly accepted it. _

"_That's the spirit." Shiki smiled. "Now, why don't we go shopping for clothes? I'm not letting you wear those." He nodded to her dirty and blood-stained clothes, which was clearly never washed. _

"_They never really let me change…" Pakura mumbled. _

"_It isn't your fault, don't worry about staring, you can cover up with my jacket for now. After this, we'll give your hair a haircut." He offered her a jacket which covered her ugly clothing. Pakura nodded in thanks, as Shiki packed up, and they headed to the nearest town. _

_At one of the clothing shops, Pakura emerged wearing a pink coloured dress with a white blouse. Her hair was loose and she was wearing a pink headband with a bow to the side, complete with a pair of white boots. Her fringe was brushed aside, which made clear to everyone that she was exceptionally cute as a child. _

_Shiki paid for her clothes, including the one she was currently wearing, and they headed to a barber to cut her fringe. _

"Awww, she's so cute!" Everyone had hearts in their eyes. Who wouldn't fall for the cute charm emitting from Pakura?

"Oh yeah, that brought a lot of trouble, alright." Shiki nodded. "She had always been a very good looking girl. Even as a child, she's a sweet-looking cutie."

* * *

"_Shiki! The Egg's hatching!" Pakura called when the Egg flashed white. Shiki rushed over when he heard her call as the Egg began glow white and transform into the Pokémon the Egg contain. The glow died to reveal a mammalian, quadruped creature with primarily brown fur. The tip of its bushy tail and its large furry collar are cream-colored. It has short, slender legs with three small toes and a pink paw pad on each foot. It also has curious brown eyes, long pointed ears, and a small black nose._

_Pakura looked in awe at the cute Pokémon before her. Eevee looked up at Pakura, tilting her head. __**"Hi?" **__Eevee said. _

_Pakura was surprised to realize she understood the Eevee. "Er….hello." Pakura said. Eevee approached her with a curious expression on her face. _

_She looked at Shiki, who smiled in encouragement. _

"_Hi, my name is Pakura." She hesitated. "I'll be your Trainer from now on. It's nice to meet you!" She held out a hand. Eevee sniffed it, before licking her hand, and Pakura had a small smile as she petted the Eevee, who cooed, and jumped onto her shoulder. _

"**That's me!" **Sylveon was looking at herself as an Eevee.

"That was Pakura's Sylveon as an Eevee. Sylveon was her first Pokémon." Shiki explained.

"Was your Espeon a parent of that Egg?" Ash asked.

"Good heavens, no. It was another Egg that was given to me." Shiki said, as he changed the scene.

* * *

_Pakura was journeying alongside Shiki, her new companion and Eevee, her starter, when she saw a Goomy being attacked by a flock of Spearow. Pakura tried to intervene, but Shiki said, "Let me handle this." and sent out his Garchomp, who used Dragon Rage to chase them away. Pakura, meanwhile, was tending to the Goomy, who had cuts all over its body._

"_Hold on, little guy." Pakura said, as she pressed her hand to the cuts to apply pressure, and for some reason, she had aura flowing out of her hands into the cuts. Slowly, but surely, the cuts slowly healed, and Goomy no longer had wounds all over her body. _

"_Amazing…" Shiki was watching her heal the Pokémon. _

"_**Thank you!" **__Goomy started to nibble on her ears as a sign of affection, which made Pakura giggle, since it tickled. She placed the Goomy on the ground again, glad to see the Goomy was ok. Goomy was upset to see the girl go. _

"_**You're going already?" **__Goomy asked sadly. _

"_She has to. We have to continue our journey." Shiki helped answer. _

"_**No! Take me with you!" **__Goomy said, clutching to Pakura's legs with her horns. Pakura turned to look at Shiki, and he nodded as he handed her a Pokéball. Goomy willingly let herself get caught. _

"_Do you have a goal in mind yet?" Shiki asked her. _

_Pakura shook her head. _

"_Well, I do have one, well four actually- to be the best Dragon Master, to win the five regional conferences, be a Hunter in PAL and get the title of PAL's Prince so I can set up an Elite Four in the PAL region." Shiki told her. _

"_Dragon Master?" Pakura asked. _

"_Yeah, Dragon Pokémon are very hard to raise, but can be a very powerful companion if raised well. I want to be renowned in even the PAL region." _

"_What's that region?" Pakura frowned. _

"_It's the most prestigious region that supports all five financially. Many like to go there because it's so beautiful. It's very sunny nearly all the time, with a snow-capped Alps and the crystal-blue Mediterranean in Caelum City. They work differently from other regions, and they even have Pokémon that is not exclusive to any of the five regions. The thing is, PAL doesn't have an Elite Four yet- but I'll make sure they have one." _

"_Ok…then what's a Hunter?" Pakura enquired. _

"_It's a person that has proven themselves through rigorous examination to be an elite member of humanity. It's only found in PAL. I heard people nickname the Hunter Exam "Exam from Hell". There are many types of Hunters, actually. I'll explain as we go along." _

"_I guess I'll come with you." Pakura replied. "Achieving those goals sounds fun." _

_Shiki smiled, and they walked on when something sleek and blue emerged from the bushes and attached itself to Pakura's wrist. _

"_What's that?" Pakura asked. _

"_It's a Dratini." Shiki admired. Dratini were pretty rare to be found in the wild. _

"_Hi." Pakura sounded more confident than she had with her Eevee. _

"_**Hello." **__The Dratini replied happily, her tail wiggling. _

"_Aren't you a cute little thing?" Pakura cooed. Dratini purred when Pakura stroked one of her fins._

_The Dratini refused to be separated from Pakura, and let herself out after Pakura caught her. She likes to wrap herself around Pakura's wrist like a bracelet. _

"So that was how she discovered she had healing powers." Ash nodded.

"Yeah, she can heal both humans and Pokémon. Discovered she can heal humans when I burnt myself when setting up a fire." Shiki said.

"She caught two Dragon Pokémon in one day! Wow!" Lance admired.

"Oh yeah, that was her first step to be a Dragon Master." Shiki nodded. "While I was travelling with her, I trained her in psychic powers and using of aura, and even trained Pokemon with her and Mega Evolution. She is a fast learner. In exchange, she taught me hand-to-hand combat and weapon combat."

"How did you get a Key Stone and a Mega Stone?" Lance asked.

"Well, while I was travelling in Kanto, I happened to come across it while I was exploring the Evolution Mountain near Stone Town." Shiki explained. "I got one for her as well, Team Rocket happened to have one as they were studying the secrets of Mega Evolution and I simply stole it from them. Mega Stones can be found if you look hard enough when you travel."

"So, were you the better one in aura usage and psychic abilities?" Ash asked.

"Sort of, I mean I have a lot of offensive techniques, you see. You have to note that she doesn't have offensive abilities at all, she fears hurting people, you see."

"Wait, what?" The PAL Elite didn't believe it.

"I know it's unbelievable but believe it or not, she never hurt anyone when I was with her. Didn't want people to suffer like she did." Shiki nodded. "I ended up protecting her, killing whoever tried to endanger her. We took the Hunter Exam together eight months later, and we passed. She sort of tried to learn how to cook and bake when she read in a magazine about Pokéblocks, Poffins and Poképuffs, and how they benefit Pokémon. She decided to bake pastries too, and usually asked me to try them. Since at first she wasn't very good, I had to tell a white lie so she wouldn't be so upset. Ever since she got out of there, she worked herself so hard to please me, for fear I'd return her to Team Rocket."

Everyone looked saddened when they heard Shiki tell them this.

"At one point she fell in love with me, and I did fall in love with her too, I mean who wouldn't, true, she was somewhat a perfectionist, but she's cute when she's trying, especially when she's shy. Most of the time, she was kind, sweet and gentle. All she needed was some encouragement. I didn't really find out I loved her, until…."

* * *

"_Sharon! It's been a while!" Shiki smiled when he heard his old neighbour call him. He was taking Pakura out to see a very high (and very cold) waterfall in PAL (from above) when he heard her call._

"_It's been a while too, Shiki." The girl smiled. "How is your journey so far?"_

"_It's going great. I got a new travelling companion." He nodded to Pakura, who was clutching to him, and hiding behind him. "She's a shy one." _

"_Aww, she's so cute." Sharon smiled at her. Pakura tilted her head, which made her even cuter. _

"_I'll just leave you to talk to your friend?" Pakura asked, as she backed away to play with her Eevee. However, Pakura was half paying attention to the pair, and looked on in horror as Sharon kissed Shiki on the lips. _

_Pakura's hand froze, and stepped back, only to trip on a rock, and fall into the river leading to the waterfall. _

"_**Pakura!" **__Eevee yelled. That was loud enough for Shiki to snap out, push Sharon away and see that his travelling companion was being swept away in the river-towards the waterfall. Pakura was too shell-shocked to scream, until she was bought over the edge. Only then did she scream._

"_Paku!" Shiki yelled, feeling his heart break at the sight of her falling over the waterfall. He turned to his friend. "Sorry, I got to go. With that, he sent out his Latios and got him to fly down quickly towards the bottom of the waterfall. When he reached the bottom, Pakura was nowhere to be seen. Shiki knew she was somewhere below the river's surface. _

"_I'm going to go in and find her." Shiki announced to Latios. Latios nodded, before Shiki returned him. He dived in the water, looking for Pakura, but occasionally had to surface for oxygen. After thirty minutes, he finally found her at the bottom of the river near the seaweed. She was apparently knocked out. Shiki grabbed her, and swam back to the surface. However, she was already drowned, and near death. _

_Shiki panicked at her state, and quickly teleported them to the PAL General Hospital. He could only watch as the hospital staff whisked her away on a stretcher to check her condition. He could only sit at the plastic chairs and wait it out. _

_An hour later, the doctor came out, shook his head and said, "The girl has severe hypothermia. Adding to the fact that she's without oxygen for more than 20 minutes, meaning the brain activity is low. She'll most likely die." _

_That angered Shiki, and he lifted the doctor with telekinesis. "Well make sure she doesn't die!" He demanded. "Save her at all costs! Now!"_

"_Her major organs have failed." The doctor said. _

_"Well then go and restore them!" Shiki shouted. _

"_Fine, but first we should go warm her up first." With that, the doctor rushed off. _

_"Then hurry up and do that!" Shiki yelled after the doctor, and sat down, praying for Pakura's safety. _

_An hour later, the doctor came out again, and reported that he had removed the cold water she swallowed while she was drowning, and replaced her stomach with clean warm water, which raised her temperature a little but she's still not waking up. One of the nurses were currently tending to her. _

"_Just curious, did something happen before she fell over?" _

"_Well….I was talking to a childhood friend when I saw her fall over."_

"_Are you sure the childhood friend didn't do anything?" The doctor asked. _

_"Why would she?" Shiki replied. _

"_I may not look it but I studied psychology before. So I repeat, did she do anything?" _

"_Yeah, she kissed me on the lips." Shiki mumbled_

"_That settles it. It's most likely she saw it and she must have took a step back in shock until she reached the river or tripped on something, and considering she can't swim against the current, that would lead to falling over the waterfall. And you know when it comes to comas, it's the will of the patients that is most important. And analysing this, she's as good as dead." The doctor concluded. _

_"Well I need to convince her that I never broke up with her and still love her." Shiki cried. _

_"Judging by what you told me you never got together with her and you are friends."_

_"I know but...I'm pretty sure she holds some feelings for me in her heart." _

_The doctor opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by a nurse shouting, "Doctor! It's that drowned patient her heart stopped!"_

_"No! No! No! Doctor you have to revive her!"_

_"I'll try." The doctor replied, as he rushed into the room. _

_Shiki watched as the doctor used electric pads, but it wasn't working. _

"_What the-" Shiki was trying to figure out why it didn't work, and gasped when he realized why. "Oh shoot! I forgot! Doctor! You can't use electricity on her"_

_"Someone go for CPR. It's our only chance." The doctor ordered upon hearing Shiki's words. _

_"I'll have to do it doctor! Only I can bring her out of this!" Shiki said. The doctor nodded as he told his team to step aside for Shiki. Shiki's hands glowed as he used aura to help warm Pakura's body, and performed CPR on her. He made sure to include aura when he was pressing her chest during the process of CPR. After a few minutes, Shiki was delighted to find that it had worked. She had a heartbeat. _

"_Good work. I'll leave you two to talk now." The doctor said, as he and his team left, leaving him alone with Pakura. _

_Shiki sighed, as he took Pakura's hand, wishing she would wake up soon._

"So how long was she out?" Grimsley asked.

"One week. She was able to recover from the severe hypothermia relatively quickly, thanks to her Healing Regenerative Factor, but…." Shiki changed the scene.

* * *

"_I can't remember anything…." Pakura muttered, rubbing her head. They were walking out of the hospital as she was discharged after a few days of observation, which showed she was relatively fine. "Last I remember was being thrown into the cell by Team Rocket."_

_Shiki was frightened. She couldn't remember him? "Please, Paku, I rescued you from the Team Rocket base, which is why you're not there anymore." He tried to convince her that he was the one who saved her. Pakura kept quiet, and Shiki assumed she bought it. _

"_Well, thanks for saving me I guess." Pakura mumbled. "We'll part ways here. I'm going to travel by myself." _

_"Let me travel with you." Shiki said. _

_"No thanks. I want to discover and learn by myself you know besides I don't even know you."_

_Shiki started crying, and shouts, "The world is dangerous out there and there are many evil people who will try to kill and take advantage of you, including that TEAM ROCKET!"_

_"It's fine I can go by myself." Pakura shrugged. _

_"Please don't! It's dangerous! I'm worried for you!" Shiki pleaded. _

_"I'll be fine." Pakura replied. _

_"It's all my fault! I shouldn't have started talking to that girl and you wouldn't have thought I was dating her and wouldn't have tried to kill yourself and get amnesia!" Shiki sobbed. _

"_What are you talking about?" Pakura frowned. _

_"You don't remember but...one time I took you to see a waterfall. I met one of my childhood friends there and I started talking to her. She then kissed me on the lips...and you thought I was dating her. You then tried to kill yourself by jumping into the waterfall. You got severe hypothermia and nearly died but you managed to pull through. And then you got amnesia and now you can't even recognize your own best friend and rescuer." Shiki told her. _

_"Uh huh, very nice story but I'll just go now. Bye Shiki it was nice meeting you." With that, Pakura skipped off to the next town. Shiki followed after her for a whole day and night. _

"_I won't kill myself don't be stupid. And quit following me and go to this girl you told me about." Pakura became exasperated at Shiki following her. _

_"I don't love her at all." Shiki tried to convince her. _

_"Ok, but quit following me."_

_"I can't. I love you and I don't want you to get into trouble"_

_"You can't love me. We just met." Pakura looked at him as if he was crazy. _

_"Of course I can! And we didn't just meet! We knew each other for a long, long time it's just that you don't remember it! I'm so sorry Pakura...I have failed you as your friend, guardian and rescuer."_

_"It's ok I don't really need a friend, guardian or rescuer." Pakura shrugged. _

_"You may not need them but I need you! Please stay with me..."_

_Pakura took steps away from Shiki. His heart broke with every step she took. _

_"Paku! No! Please don't leave!" Shiki shouted, grabbing her by the hand. _

"Biggest fight you two were involved in I suppose." Ash remarked.

"Yeah, and I realized something about this amnesia thing." Shiki said.

"What was it?" Lance asked.

"You'll see." Shiki replied, as he changed scene.

* * *

_"Paku...I'm so sorry...I can't believe you did this..." Shiki held up a paper that contained the web history in the library and at the top it stated that the research was on amnesia, meaning Pakura had faked it._

"_Like I said, I want to part ways. Amnesia was the less painful one, but you have to persist." Pakura didn't show guilt that she had lied to Shiki. _

_"It was all my fault. I shouldn't have even started talking to Sharon. It's all because of her you are mad at me and want to leave me. It's all because of a girl I never loved that the girl whom I love dearly wants to leave me." Shiki looked upset. _

_"Yeah sure tell that to someone who cares." Pakura muttered._

_"I'll...never speak to any other girl who knows me ever again!" Shiki offered desperately. _

"_I don't care at this point. Oh, for your information, I didn't jump off I fell by accident. I'm not that dumb to commit suicide." _

_"Still I think I should be held responsible." Shiki replied. _

"_No, I'm leaving." Pakura said, as she was about to depart. _

_"Fine then! We'll settle this in a Pokémon battle! If you win, you can leave! If I win, you stay!" Shiki challenged. _

_"Hey you know I can't win." She knew this from first-hand experience when Shiki keeps beating her in a Pokémon battle without a sweat. _

"_We'll go easy on each other." Shiki offered, and Pakura reluctantly accepted the challenge. _

"I think it's a no brainer who won the battle." Cynthia muttered.

"Yeah, I won the battle, and she had to stay. I told her not to sneak out in the middle of the night." Shiki said.

"Did she?" Jude asked.

"She tried. But Espeon spotted her and alerted me, and I resorted to desperate measures. Actually used one of those handcuffs infused with aura and chained her to me so she can't escape. But, there was another problem."

"What?" Ash enquired.

"She stopped listening to me, which made me frustrated and sad. I always had to drag her away whenever guys come up to talk to her (she is exceptionally cute) and she looked like she wanted to reply to them. One even had the nerve to ask her for a kiss, and worst part, she accepted." Shiki looked like he wanted to break something.

"And what happened next?" Rosaline said.

"I pushed her away and I kissed him instead, much to the boy's horror. After that I told him to fuck off." Shiki replied, and everyone started laughing.

"So how was this resolved?" Lance asked.

"Well…." Shiki changed his scene.

* * *

"_Hey, you're cute. Are you taken?" A man, no less than forty years of age, asked Pakura._

_Before she could even answer, Shiki said in a very intimidating voice, "Oh yes she is. And if you try to take her away from me...you shall suffer a fate worse than death." He gave a human version of the move Glare, and dragged Pakura away. _

"_Take me away from you?" Pakura repeated his words, sounding somewhat amused, once they were alone. Only to be pinned against the tree by Shiki. _

"_Paku, I beg of you, I'll do anything, just stop talking to those guys. I hate it when you talk to other guys like that. When I saw you at Blackthorn, you were just so cute, I wish I could just take you and keep you as a favourite pet. I'm sorry I got you into trouble that day."_

_Pakura sighed, as she could tell Shiki was upset due to the fact that she can sense emotions, but then she frowned. Wait, what boy? Then she realized something. _

"_You were the boy that talked to me before my mum caught us." Pakura whispered. _

"_I was hoping you'd remember. Do you know what I want to do now?" When Pakura shook her head, he took her face in his hands and kissed her. Pakura froze for a moment, before she closed her eyes. _

_Shiki was hers. And she was Shiki's. Anything else is unthinkable. _

"_I think…as long as I have you by my side, I can endure anything." Pakura remarked. _

"Aww…" Cynthia cooed at the sweet romance between the two of them.

"Yeah, it was around one year after her rescue when we had our first kiss." Shiki nodded. "Shortly after that, I hear there was a pox epidemic that killed my family. Pakura was there clinging to me to comfort me. Not that I needed much anyway, since I never really liked my family worshipping the ground the Elders walked on. We went on many dates, including going to Amare City. She loved the chicken pie and croquettes served in one café in that city."

* * *

_"Hey, Pakura, did you know?" Shiki asked._

_"Know what?" said Pakura._

_"When a person is in a tag battle with another long enough, he and the partner will have a special bond. This bond allows them to understand each other and nothing will keep them apart. They will unite to be one person when they have a tag battle together. Not only that, they may be able to apply this teamwork in real life as well. This is how people win tag battles, because partners must work together and understanding each other well would help even more."_

_"It sounds cool!" Pakura nodded._

_"Do you want to try it?" said Shiki. _

_"Yeah!" Pakura replied, nodding._

"_We can train, and test our skills in the upcoming Trainer's Tournament. I hear that it's the 25th year the tournament was held, which means there may be a twist to the tournament. I hear the twist may be a tag battle, meaning we have to participate in pairs. Partners must be chosen by the participant's own free will." _

"_That's great! That means both of us can partner each other!" _

_Shiki smiled. _

"After a few months of training, we decided to challenge the PAL's Battle Frontier, get those 12 parts and four symbols, and attend the Trainer's Tournament. And I was right, that year we participated, it was the tag battle. We won by simply using our Dragon Pokémon." Shiki said.

"How did you become the Dragon Duo?" Ash asked.

"Well, after we won, we were challenged to battle Ken Anderson, the former Chairman of Hunter's Association and the temporary ruler of the PAL region. You see, if there is no Prince of Princess, Ken usually takes over until one can be found. Both of us had to battle him individually, and when we won, he gladly crowned us as the newest Prince and Princess, and that was how we got the Legendary Dragon Duo title."

"Wait…Ken Anderson? Is he..." Ash didn't know Ken's last name was Anderson.

"Yeah, he's William's older brother. William took over as Chairman when Ken decided to retire and be an event announcer and host. After we won, we started travelling again, as Pakura herself wanted the Gym badges I had, says she wanted to collect them. And she was the one who suggested we catch other Pokémon so no one would suspect we are the Dragon Duo, you know, and it was useful when I participated in Conferences and she took part in PAL Contests. She got interested when I took her to watch one." Shiki explained. "I chose to catch Ice Pokémon, while she chose Fairy. By that point, we also started filming PokéVision videos for our fans. You'll be surprised how much the fans love us singing with the Pokémon."

* * *

"_How should we make the Elite Four stand out among the others?" Shiki wondered. "I mean, PAL is a region that stands out, it's true, but the people need to stand out too. We can't just take winners of the Tournament, right?"_

"_I have an idea." Pakura said. "Why don't we have requirements to apply to be an Elite Four member? Besides winning the Trainer's Tournament, the person must at least pass the Hunter Exam, know how to use aura, choose two types they specialize in and must be good, and have a talent should they become an Elite member."_

"_Talent?" Shiki was puzzled. _

"_Well, yes. It's an activity one might take up since Elite Four members generally don't travel around to collect Badges or Ribbons. It can be anything, really, anything they can interview you about. For instance, you play musical instruments, and I can cook." Pakura replied. "Our Elite should have another occupation besides being Elite and Hunter. Oh, and if they apply, they must battle one of us, and whether they get in or not would be our choice." _

"_Those are great ideas." Shiki pointed his pen at her. "I'll design the flyer."_

"_I'll go buy some space ad for the local paper." Pakura nodded. _

"So you were the ones who created the Elite Four." Ash pointed.

"Yeah, we did, we were offered the remaining two spots by Phillip, the then Leader of the Elite. Not that you remember." He nodded to Phillip, who gave him a puzzled look. "Anyway, let's move on."

* * *

_Pakura, now looking like a 15-year-old (though Shiki stated she was only 13, at least the age he gave her was 13), was sitting in a desk at the office, and looking at some paperwork, when the doorbell rang. She got up, smoothed her dress, and answered._

"_Hello, Jude." Pakura said coolly, holding out a hand to shake. Jude was surprised, and he extended his hand to shake hers. "I've been expecting you."_

_A younger Jude was stunned speechless. Other than his hair being brown at the tips and at shoulder length, also he was only around 6 feet tall at that time, he hasn't changed very much. He was nervous as he knew that girl was the Dragon Princess herself. _

_Pakura gestured for Jude to sit, and she sat across from him. She offered him cookies and tea, and he accepted. _

"_So, Jude, I know you're from Unova. It must've been quite a change ever since you moved here for your modelling career. What's impressed you most since you arrived here?" _

"_Er….the price of the things on sale. Due to the good quality, I expected them to be expensive, but it was cheaper than I thought." Jude answered sheepishly. _

"_Why do you want to be an Elite?" Pakura asked. _

"_I like to try many things. To me, just you specialize in something, it doesn't mean you can't step out of your comfort zone and try other things. I've always been a Pokémon Connoisseur, which means I never really did much battling, but that doesn't mean I can't try now." _

"_You're a Pokémon Connoisseur?" Pakura interrupted. _

_Jude nodded, as Pakura said, "Which class?"_

"_I'm an S-Class." Jude showed her his badge. _

"_What talents do you have?" _

"_I'm very good at water sports and swimming. I'm also a Sea Hunter to match my talent." Jude answered. _

"_And what types are you going to specialize in?" _

"_Er…Water and Dark." _

"_Do you have any aura abilities?" _

"_I can breathe underwater." _

_Pakura nodded, as she wrote her notes. "Ok, good enough. You can develop other abilities when you get in this Elite. That is, after we see how you fare against me." _

"So I was the first Elite." Jude said, as he watched that memory.

"Yeah, you were. Until Phillip came in and defeated you, and when she asked what his talents was, he said he invents things. His inventions, extreme intelligence and the ability to manipulate electricity impressed her, and so she let him in as well. He told her he'd specialize in Electric and Steel, and also he's going to be a game maker and tester."

"Did we have Mega Evolution before we entered?" Phillip asked.

"Only Phillip did. The rest of you didn't until we gave them to you." Shiki replied. "But I didn't realize that Paku may have hatred and revenge lying in her heart, for those that had treated her like crap in her early years. Just a fun fact: After the battle with Phillip, her Eevee evolved into Sylveon at that point."

* * *

_Pakura and Shiki were running as fast as they could, on the way back from their mission, when Pakura spotted four figures she thought she never saw again. Her former family._

_She quickly turned the other direction, only for Shiki to grab her arm. _

"_No, Paku, it's dangerous. You might get killed." He warned, only for Pakura to snatch her arm back._

"_No." Pakura hissed. "They will pay for what they did!" With that, she ran off, leaving Shiki to chase after her. _

_Of course, because of her reluctance to kill or hurt others, she was losing the battle. Just as her father was about to stab her, a sword intercepted the knife. _

"_Shiki?" Pakura was surprised. _

"_Do you really think I'd leave you alone to deal with them?" Shiki smiled. Pakura gave a weak smile, and stood up, readying her weapon. _

_They clashed with Pakura's family, and unbeknownst to Pakura, her brother was about to strike her from behind. _

"_Paku, look out!" Shiki threw her aside, taking the knife in his chest in the process. Blood was flowing down his body as he removed the knife. _

_When Pakura saw this, she felt cold all over. Her family looked at each other as their breath mists in front of them. What was going on? Pakura felt the icy feeling spread through her, and it's freezing, bitter and dead. The floor begins to freeze, and it was spreading around. I Pakura acted on pure instinct and jerked her hand upwards and the ice took shape beneath her family, multiple jagged icicles forming from the ground and thrusting upwards, piercing their chest, causing them to cough out blood. She jerked her hands downwards and it pierced their brains, putting an end to them. She quickly tended to the self-destruct bomb by freezing them. _

_When this was done, she rushed over to Shiki, who smiled proudly when he saw her new ability, and healed his chest wound, only for him to cough out more blood. _

"_The knife must've been poisoned…." Shiki said, looking at the blood he just coughed out. _

"_Oh no…" Pakura whispered. "I can't remove poison! Come on, Shiki, let's go to the hospital." _

_But Shiki held up a hand. "It's too late for me." _

"_I'm sorry! It's my fault, I led you to your death, I…I…." She couldn't seem to form words. _

"_Shh…it's never your fault. I chose to come with you." Shiki said soothingly. "Besides, death isn't the end, it's just the beginning of another story." _

"_No, if I wasn't wanting revenge so badly, I wouldn't have ran here, and you wouldn't have followed, it's…." Pakura was crying too heavily to speak. _

_Shiki mustered up the strength to get up, and wiped Pakura's tears. "Listen to me. You have to live your life to the fullest. Promise me."_

_"I will. Going to for the both of us now." Pakura replied, wiping her tears. _

"_Paku, I'm about to…die…but my feelings…and my companions… will hopefully be able to help you open your eyes. Paku, to you, I give you…all my powers and my Pokémon. You'll probably have to suffer again from now on… but don't change, keep going your way. You told me that you would never back down… at all costs, right?"_

_Pakura clutched to it like a lifeline she felt foreign aura flowing into her, but knew she was safe since it was Shiki she was talking about. _

"_Would you sing for me?" Shiki asked. _

_Pakura thought of which song she should sing, and finally chose "Safe and Sound". She gave a small cough, swallowed hard, and began singing. Through the second verse, Shiki's eyes have fluttered shut. His chest moves but only slightly. Pakura found herself releasing tears again, and they slide down her cheeks. But she has to finish the song. _

_When she did, the aura transference ended. _

"_Paku….I have a secret….could you lean down?" _

_Pakura leaned down to hear, and Shiki gave her a surprise French kiss. He was kissing her goodbye. Pakura barely had time to register the kiss, when Shiki let her go, and he fell to the ground, dead. _

"_Shi-chan?" Pakura shook him, but he didn't respond. "Shiki! Hey it's not funny! Wake up! Please!" It went on for a few minutes, as Pakura attempted to revive Shiki. _

_Pakura suddenly heard footsteps, and all of a sudden, she was surrounded by Team Rocket grunts. She picked up Shiki's sword, and began combating the grunts, and making sure every single one of them are killed. They ruined her life, so it's fair they pay with their lives. Eventually, the place was a bloody mess, and Pakura was standing in the midst of it all._

_Pakura unfroze the self-destruct time bomb, grabbed Shiki, and teleported out of the place. _

_When she got back to the cave, something fell out of his pocket. It was a small black velvet box, and it was enough to hold a ring. _

_Pakura gasped, as she opened it to reveal a heart-shaped one and quarter carat pink diamond ring on a platinum band. She remembered that he was going to take her out on a date in Amare City this Sunday, and realized he was about to propose to her. The thought that she lost her chance made her sob, as she wore the ring on her left ring finger. The Pokémon, hearing her voice, came out to meet her, but became saddened when they saw Shiki had died. _

"_**What happened?" **__Delphox asked. _

"_It's my fault." Pakura mumbled, as she took Shiki's body, and to a part of the cave, and started making his grave. _

"_**Latios, check her mind. What exactly happened?" **__Chimecho asked. _

_Latio's eyes glowed, and said, __**"Apparently, she saw her family and wanted revenge and ignored Shiki's warning and went to fight them. While fighting her family, Shiki saved her from a knife attack, but was stabbed in the process. She tried to heal him but there was poison in the blade that made way to his heart, and she can't remove poison. He died after giving her his powers and handing us to her ownership. Meaning, we belong to her now."**_

"_You guys are all I have left." Pakura sounded like she was crying. "But you can go if you wish, I won't stop you." as she carved words on the ice plaque she made. But none of them made a move to leave her. _

_She got up, and the plaque said: _

_Shiki Kurobane_

_11 April 1988 (D.O.B) to 4 December 2010 (D.O.D)_

_A loving friend, a caring lover_

_"Death is simply the beginning of another story."_

There wasn't a dry eye when everyone watched this scene.

"Ice Manipulation was her very first offensive ability that was her own." Shiki says. "Suddenly received when I was being stabbed."

"So that was how you died." Lance looked at his friend.

"And how her family died too. She killed her own family." Ash replied.

"By the way, among the Dragon and Psychic Pokémon, which is hers and which are yours?" Rosaline asked.

"Rosaline!" Ash berated her. "That has nothing to do with the mysteries!"

"Sorry, just curious." Rosaline said.

"Yes, your curiosity is going to kill us someday." Phillip said sarcastically.

"I'll leave it for Paku to answer, because it's something you don't need to know." Shiki replied. "Anyway, she sort of fell into depression after I died. Got a lot of nightmares too, so at some point she stopped sleeping and eating well. Kept herself awake for fear of nightmares. She got obsessed with training her healing powers, and was eventually able to remove any sickness and poison with her healing powers, but she got depressed as it reminded her that it was too late to save me. At that point, she started killing viciously, and more than necessary too. Once, Domino, an agent from Team Rocket tried to capture her Sylveon, and she tortured her so badly her body was unrecognizable by the time she was done."

Many winced when they heard Shiki say that.

"Was this when she started drinking and being addicted to antidepressants?" Jasmine asked.

"No, it was much later than that. She wrote the letter of disappearance and after that, she attacked Blackthorn, killed almost all the members, and stolen two Pokémon from them- Salamence and Hydregion. Those two chose to stay with her ever since because she healed their injuries the Elders inflicted and even fed them. She was kind when they were not."

Lance vaguely remembered a Salamence being whipped by the Elders and wasn't surprised it chose to go with her. "How did she spare my parents?" Lance asked Shiki.

"That's because your parents were compassionate to her." Shiki replied. "Made her hesitate when they encouraged her to go for her goals. She doesn't kill children, and why she kept Clair's parents alive was because she figured she might be able to get revenge on Clair in some other way. And it was in the form of crushing her in the Top 32."

* * *

"_Why did you quit as Dragon Princess and refuse the offer, only to turn up as someone else to be Princess again, and even taking the leadership from Phillip?" Jude asked. "This I don't get."_

"_Well, everyone would suspect if I went searching for the forbidden technique to bring someone back to life as Dragon Princess. If I went to do the research as myself, they won't suspect a thing. Hence I needed to disappear and return, and take over the Dragon Princess. You see, my family…." She told Jude everything. _

_"I can't believe your family would do this to you!" Jude was outraged. _

_"They did alright." Pakura sighed_

_"Didn't any of your family love you?" Jude asked._

_Pakura shook her head, and Jude's face was of pure anger._

_"Well, I never! Thank goodness they're dead!" Jude spat._

_"Are you that angry?" Pakura was surprised. _

_"Well, yes! Just because you're born from a one-night stand does not mean you're useless, you know. How could they just throw you aside?" Jude asked incredulously._

_"It's nice you're angry for me, Jude. Nobody was angry for me before…well, except Shiki" Pakura said almost dreamily. "I never knew what it was like to have a family that loves you, and I had two brothers, but they didn't love me either."_

_"Then, I'll be your brother." Jude declared. "I'll be part of the loving family you never had. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."_

_"You will?" Pakura sounded surprised._

_Jude nodded, and Pakura hugged him. "Big brother!" _

_Jude smiled, and pat her on the head._

"So, it was her all along?" Jude's eyes widened. Their Leader loved them?

"Yeah." Shiki nodded. "After I died, she decided to travel again, but this time it was to collect Ribbons and win the Grand Festivals as by that time she already had all 40 Ribbons from our region."

* * *

_Pakura, who was most likely in her late teens, was walking in the forest located at Route 209 with her Sylveon .They were on their way to Hearthome City to participate in a Contest so she can earn her final Ribbon to participate in the Sinnoh Grand Festival. She was hoping while she was at it, she could enter for the Hearthome Collection as well._

_Suddenly, a Team Rocket member was pouncing on her when her back was turned. She was about to take out her knife to kill him when someone shouted, "Espeon, Psybeam!" and the man was blasting off. _

"_Excuse me, I could've done it myself. I didn't need you to interfere." Pakura said, glaring at the girl. The girl had black hair with matching eyes, and she was quelling under her glare. _

"_I'm sorry. I thought you were in trouble, so I figured I help." Rosaline replied. "My psychic powers tell me someone was to be attacked here." _

"_And did your psychic power tell you that I can defend myself?" Pakura asked. _

"_N-no, so I thought you needed help." Rosaline said. _

"_Well, let's battle with our Psychic powers. We'll see who's' the one who needs help." Pakura nodded to her Sylveon, who jumped back. _

"_Alright." She nodded to Espeon, who also stepped back. _

_Of course, Rosaline lost extremely badly. _

"_You were saying?" Pakura smirked, as Rosaline was panting, wondering how her opponent was so strong and well-versed when it comes to psychic combat. _

"_I'm sorry for interfering." Rosaline sighed. _

"_You better." Pakura said. _

"_Can I make it up to you by covering your dinner?" Rosaline pleaded. _

_Pakura shrugged, as Rosaline took her to her house for dinner that night. Rosaline lived in a two storey apartment, and her parents were surprised to see Rosaline brought home a friend other than Phlox but welcomed her. _

_As they finished dinner, Rosaline was helping her mother wash the dishes. _

"_Mum, I wish to leave home and follow Pakura on her journey." Rosaline said. _

"_And why the sudden decision?" Her mother asked. _

"_We had a psychic combat earlier in the day, and I lost so badly! I wish to learn under her, and find out how she got to be so powerful." Rosaline replied. _

"_Alright. If you wish to leave home, then here." She handed Rosaline a ring. "A good luck charm to tell you we'll always support you." _

_Rosaline smiled, and packed her bag, all ready to go by the time Pakura was ready to leave. _

"_I want to travel with you! Please?" Rosaline cheerfully asked, as they left her house._

"_Just don't get in my way." Pakura replied. _

"In summary, you two became good friends you know, you even knew she was the former Dragon Princess and you even knew about her relationship with me. After she won the Sinnoh Grand Festival, she brought you to her house and introduce Phillip and Jude to you. You then decided to take the Hunter's Exam, which you passed, battle the Battle Frontier, and you won the Trainer's Tournament and applied to be the last member. You had a talent, which was painting and drawing. Although you lost to Jude, Pakura let you in, and she even trained you in psychic powers, and actually you do have the ability to lift things without the need of your hands, just that she erased the memory of the training, which is why your abilities are suppressed." Shiki explained.

* * *

"_That's amazing, Pakura!" Everyone applauded. They were relaxing in the karaoke lounge, and Pakura had just finished her song._

"_Ok, Phil, your turn." She handed the mic to Phillip as the song he selected came up. The three listened in anticipation, wondering how well Phillip would sing. _

_And they regretted it instantly. _

"_You suck at singing, Phillip." Jude remarked at the end of the song. Phillip sang way out of tune for the entire duration and everyone had to cover their ears when he sang, as it was horrible and they wanted to save their ears from listening to them. _

_Phillip shrugged, as he didn't care. _

_Rosaline whispered something to Pakura, who snickered, and the boys turned to them. _

"_Now what's so funny?" Jude asked. _

_Pakura tried to contain herself and said, "Rosaline said that Phillip sounded like a half…dead….Murkrow!" At that point, she burst out laughing again, and the other three joined in. _

"You four used to hang out together and you had fun together you know, just that you didn't remember. You three used to call her Paku, and she occasionally called Rosaline Rosa, Jude was big brother, and her best friend Phillip was Phil. All was well, until…."

* * *

_The doorbell rang, and the four of them looked at each other, and Phillip chose to answer the door. Standing outside was an extremely fat old man with a smug look on his face. He looked around to be at least fifty years of age. He had thick lips that seem pulled across his face._

"_Excuse me, who are you?" Phillip asked._

"_Me?" The man said pompously. "I am Benzene Von Karma, and I am your new manager!" _

"_The manager was supposed to be female." Rosaline said. _

"_She wrote in this letter that she gave the position to me as she had some….family problems." Benzene replied, brandishing the letter. Pakura grabbed it and read it, and her scowl became more prominent the more she read it and looking disgusted at the end. Benzene meanwhile was staring at her, and drooling, wondering if he could get some fun time with the Leader. _

"_And of course, since I heard all about you, I brought the Princess a new teacher." He said, proud of his own deed. _

"_Teacher? Why would I need a teacher?" Pakura asked. _

"_To be a proper princess. From the little I've seen, you could do a lot of improvement." Benzene replied. "You'll begin your princess lessons tomorrow at the Plaza Hotel, floor 17, room 1715. I'm your manager, you have to listen to me." _

_The next day, Pakura began her lessons with a woman called Emilie. She was around 65 years old and four feet tall, and she put Pakura in a full length gown and high-heeled shoes, and instructed her on walking. Unfortunately, the gown kept tangling around her shoes, and if she tried to hitch it up, she gets hit by a whip. By the time that part of the lesson ended, her legs were full of whip marks. _

_She was also instructed on smiling when talking. Pakura hated smiling in front of pepole she don't know. When she told her teacher that, she got a whip to the face, and she was forced to smile as she said a hundred phrases. _

"What a horrible teacher, abusing her like that!" Cynthia shouted.

"If you are wondering what happened to her, Pakura used a slow-acting poison called Dimethylmercury three and a half years after the lesson started." Shiki explained. "Symptoms of poisoning start showing after months of initial exposure, which is definitely too late for any kind of treatment, which is why she used that. So of course, when she used it against the teacher, four months later, the symptoms appeared, and 10 months later, she died just like that. Funny thing was, she died right after that horrible manager." Shiki laughed as he changed scene.

* * *

_"So, why did we come here for tea?" Phillip was looking around at the rather old café._

_"You'll see, Phil. You see, one of the reasons is not many people come here because kind of a hippy place where they have loose tea in those green plastic containers." Pakura replied. "But the best part has yet to come."_

_"What do you mean?" Phillip was puzzled._

_Pakura pointed to one of the employees, who was holding a piece of paper, and announcing that she was going to read a famous poem called If You Forget Me by Pablo Neruda, and all the customers turned to look at her, while she cleared her throat and started reading. The way she read the poem, it allowed the customers to imagine themselves in the plot of the poem._

_"Wow! They hold poetry readings here?" Phillip was amazed._

_"The best part is, it's regular, and sometimes, a badly written poem allows us laughter with the way the employees here would read it." Pakura nodded._

_"I think this is the best place to have some drinks and openly talk when we are in public." Phillip said, sipping on his tea. "Thanks for recommending this place."_

_"Makes you forget everything, right?" The girl said, and Phillip could sense she was smiling._

_Phillip's eyes turned cold. "No, not really. Benzene is going to use us and sell us into prostitution to affluent associates of his, and if we don't go with his plan, he's going to ruthlessly kill our loved ones. Even Rosaline wasn't spared, and she only became an Elite two weeks ago." Since not many people came here, they could openly talk about it._

_"That's because he was paranoid that he will lose his power as our manager. I am beginning to suspect he wasn't our assigned manager. I mean, which manager would keep arranging interviews and meetings with the press and force us to participate in events we don't wish to, and ask us to act the way he wants? Real managers help us deter the press, and let us participate in things we are interested in, and act like ourselves." Pakura sighed, sipping on her hot chocolate._

_"I know. What are we going to do?" Phillip sighed._

_"Don't worry. I'll talk to him tonight. It might get you out of this prostitution thing and even guarantee your family is safe."_

_"What? Talking won't help!" Phillip yelped._

_"Of course it will. I got a plan." Pakura waved dismissively._

_"Just promise me….the moment things get dangerous, call us for help. You're my best friend, you've been through so much already, and I won't let you suffer anymore."_

_Pakura kept quiet for a long time, before saying, "I promise."_

_"Cheers?" Pakura held out her cup of hot chocolate, and Phillip smiled as they clinked their cups together._

_"Don't worry, I'll never abandon you." Phillip promised to himself. _

_Later, Pakura was storming down to Benzene's office, and pounding on the door. _

"_Come in." Benzene said, as Pakura nearly ripped the door knob off the door when she came in. _

"_What is the meaning of this, Benzene?" Pakura hissed, as she slapped down a notice. _

"_It means what it says. Either you allow yourselves to be sold to my associates so I can be more popular, or your family would get killed. And I know where all your families live." Benzene replied. _

"_Jude, Phillip and Rosaline would never stand for this." Pakura said. _

"_Oh, they would cave when it comes to their family alright." Benzene said with a smirk. _

"_You'll regret using family as a bargaining chip." Pakura stated, as she stormed out. _

_That night, when Benzene made his way home, he saw Pakura slit his mother's throat. _

"_I'll make a deal with you….You leave the other three and their families alone, and I'll deal with your so-called associates." Pakura said. "Say yes, or else your father dies too!" _

_Benzene knew that Pakura would kill without hesitation, so he bumbled out, "Fine, but you must not tell any of the other three about it." _

_Pakura hesitated. "Alright, I agree. Just leave those three alone." _

_When Pakura got back to the Plateau, and others were already asleep. She took this opportunity to one by one go to their rooms. _

_The first room she visited was Rosaline's. She sat next to Rosaline's bed. _

"_I guess this is for the best. I'm sorry. Family is important." Pakura, with tears running down her face, erased Rosaline's memories, and only retained the fact that she travelled with her before, her letting Rosaline be in the Elite and even second member as she had Leader's authority. _

_She entered Jude's room, apologized by saying, "Sorry, Big Brother. Your real family is more important than me." With that, she erased all his memories of them spending time together, leaving only the fact that she was the Elite Leader. _

_Phillip's room was last. She mind-controlled him first to edit her out of all the pictures they had taken when they spent time, and when it is all printed out and ready, that was when she erased his memory (after apologizing), and made him go back to sleep. _

_Pakura took the real photos, and placed her hand on the lock at the __treasure trunk, the same one that Rosaline saw__, and the lock instantly unlocked as they recognized her aura. She placed the photographs inside the said trunk, along with other items such as pictures of her and Shiki, the portraits that Rosaline had painted on her and Shiki, love notes written to her from Shiki, Shiki's birthday presents to her, and a few prizes that she won in an amusement park with the four of them._

_"Perhaps some things are best left forgotten, for now." Pakura said, as she locked the trunk. _

"She erased our memories to protect us…and our families….We…I…the…." Jude was at a loss for words.

"She was my best friend…."

"But how does our Pokémon not remember too?" Rosaline asked.

"Mass mind control." Shiki replied. "You were right, she had loved you. However, as time passed, that love turned into hate, because you three deserted her, and she hated you enough to try and take you out. This was when she started drinking and dosing on antidepressants. She had to endure the Princess lessons and Benzene parading her around in parties, and agreeing to lend her to an associate for the night. To make themselves feel better, Pakura's patrons would make presents of money and jewellery, but she wants something else."

They waited, and Shiki said, "She wants their lives. Their personal secrets and their property. Every client that she was sold to ended up dead the next day. Quick death for single men, and slow, torturous deaths for those taken, especially when they have kids. She mind controlled them to get them to tell her their deepest, darkest secrets, convinced them she gave them a great time, and write a will stating they leave everything to her. Killed them the next day, took their gifts and what they so-called left her in their will, sent their secrets to the local paper, and never came back. Killed over 60 people in the process. Also, because Benzene believed a true Leader never shows emotions, he never allowed her to show them. At some point, she lost the ability to show empathy or express her feelings."

Everyone was shocked, before Jude recovered, and said, "Who the hell does he think he is? If he's alive, I'd kill him!"

"I'll join you." Rosaline added.

"Can you…restore our memories? We want them back." Phillip requested.

Shiki shrugged. "Certainly." He touched them on the foreheads with his palm for a few seconds, and undid the memory blocks. The three of them fell on their knees, as their blocked memories flowed rapidly into their head. Jude remembered Pakura giving him some of her own recipes for his shop, Rosaline remember Pakura teaching her how to control her psychic powers, and Phillip remembered watching a funny show in a language only both of them understood.

The three of them were saddened as they remembered their Leader hated them now.

* * *

"_Hey!" Pakura happened to be out in town doing some grocery shopping, when she discovered an unconscious boy lying in the middle of the road. She ran to him and noted he had a Pikachu with him. "Are you alright?" She pressed a hand to him, and all his memories flowed to her. At the same time, she learnt his name._

"_Well, Ash, you can't stay out here, that's for sure." She muttered, taking him, and teleporting just outside the Plateau so her Elites won't suspect her psychic powers. _

"_Are you kidding, Pakura?" Jude shouted, when she came in with the boy. "We can't take this boy in, Benzene says we can't have any guests stay in our house!" _

"_I don't care if Benzene says we can't have any guests. We're taking him in, and that's final!" Pakura was carrying an unconscious boy and his Pikachu. _

"_He doesn't have anywhere to go. His friends turned their backs on him, even his own mother, and his own home is not where he should go now." Rosaline confirmed, as she scanned Ash's mind. _

"_Phillip, take him to an unoccupied room. All we need to do is make sure Benzene doesn't discover him." Pakura replied. "If he does, I'll deal with him." _

"I see. So that was why I found myself in the Plateau. She wasn't lying when she claimed she took me in." Ash said.

"Yeah, after that she made the other Elites train you, and let you use their gym and space to train yourself too. Eventually, under her suggestion, you took the Battle Frontier challenge, won the Trainer's Tournament, and took the Elite challenge, where Pakura was waiting for you at the end, because she believed you'll be the perfect person to be their Champion. Just to let you know, Benzene threatened Pakura not to lose."

"What? Why didn't she tell me?" Ash was shocked.

"She wanted a fair fight." Shiki said, as he changed scene.

* * *

_Pakura was listening to the music box Shiki gave her. It contained the songs they had sung together, which gave her some sort of comfort as she listened to them._

_The door knocked, and Pakura said, "Come in."_

_The door opened to reveal Benzene. "Well, how was the match?" _

"_The one against me and the challenger?" Pakura asked. _

"_Yes, the one you are supposed to win." Benzene said angrily. _

"_I lost." Pakura said shortly as she continued to listen to the music. _

"_You lost? YOU LOST?" Benzene shouted. _

"_I'm bound to lose once in a while. You don't expect me to be good at everything." Pakura said nonchalantly. "I'm sure he'd make a good Champion." _

"_We don't need a Champion. Now I got one more pesky little boy to manage, and this is all your fault!" Benzene yelled. _

"_You were never a good manager in the first place." Pakura muttered. _

_Before Pakura could react, Benzene grabbed her music box and smashed them on the floor. "Let's see if you dare lose again!" Benzene spat, slamming the door behind him. Pakura glared at the door, and retrieved the music box and tried to play it. Much to her horror, she could no longer play the music. _

_Pakura narrowed her eyes. Benzene was going to pay. _

"Hey, we all lost, how come she was the only one who was punished?" Jude asked.

"She's the Leader, and to Benzene she wasn't supposed to lose." Shiki replied. "And that night, she went to Benzene's house, and made him admit what he did to the woman who was supposed to be their manager. He admitted he went to her house with his minions, coerced her into writing the letter, before they gang-raped her and killed her. Disposed her body into the sea after that. She made him write a letter to admit his misdeeds and his resignation. After that, she tortured him for 24 hours before she would dispose his body into the sea located at Pacifidlog Town. Because Paku is extremely horrible at fixing even the simplest of things, she daren't fix the music box herself, and didn't ask Phillip because of their relationship at that time."

"What happened after that?" Grimsley enquired.

"Well, a new manager was found, called Phlox, recommended by Rosaline. You see, the problem is while Phlox told you to be yourself, she no longer knew who she was and lost her personality." Shiki nodded. "And that concludes her tale. Now I would like my price."

"Alright, name it." Ash said.

"I'll take Paku with me now." Shiki announced. "So you will hand her over to me."

"You asshole!" Jude shouted.

"What? You promised to pay a price I name." Shiki said, shrugging. "And if you don't…" he took out a sword.

"Oh you want a fight? Well bring it on. We'll do anything to stop you from taking her away, you...pompous and arrogant prince!" Rosaline spat.

"Arrogant? Hey, I'm the one who saved your Leader when she was at her worst."

"Yeah but you think you can have the authority to take her just because of that? And also because you are her fiancé?" Phillip was incredulous.

"Oh yeah? And what is your relationship with her, hmm?" Shiki asked.

"Fellow Elites of course. It is our duty to protect our leader, and we'll protect her from your pompous hands!" Rosaline said confidently.

"Yeah some Elites you make, violating her privacy." Shiki yawned.

"Alright, I was too curious for my own good, she can kill me later, but I'm not letting you take her!"

"Very well. Do you three want to fight this out?" Shiki smirked, as the other three took a defensive stance.

* * *

"Is that all you've got?" Shiki asked to the downed Elites.

"You are not going to get away with this...you may be stronger than us combined...but we will still fight to the very end...just to protect our beloved leader!" Phillip cried.

"Yeah...and you already can't win against Paku-chan, what makes you think you can win me?" Shiki asked in a bored tone.

"It is our faith that keeps us together. And that one faith is to protect our leader at all costs...and even it means impending doom...we shall fight to the very end to protect our beloved leader...and friend...from your dirty and arrogant hands!" Jude said, as he struggled to get up.

"Yeah Shiki. I can't believe you turned to be such an arrogant little prick when you grew up." Lance interrupted.

"I don't see you doing anything." Shiki pointed out dryly.

"I know. But everyone makes some sort of mistake in their lives. I was not able to do anything before, but I'll do it now, starting with helping the PAL Elite to protect their leader."

"Lance, I know you hate her." Shiki said. "I've seen it."

"I know that. But people can make wrong assumptions n judgements about others. It's all just a matter of making things up once the misunderstanding has been cleared."

"Well, glad to hear. You all Passed!" Shiki smiled.

"What?" Ash was surprised.

"I was just testing you. The truth is, when you are to pay a heavy price, I have to name two choices. Choice 1: I take Pakura with me. Choice 2: You get nightmares as Pakura deems fit, and of course, you suffer from your injuries until you naturally heal or Pakura heals you. And no you are not allowed to ask her to heal you. Also, she'll know every single one of your secrets, and can blackmail you with them any time."

"I think we all deserve it. I can't believe we were such assholes after the memory wipe. Shiki, we are going with option 2." Jude said, as everyone nodded.

"Thank you. For telling us everything." Ash said. "Now I understand everything."

"You're welcome." Shiki smiled.

"How are you here, anyway?" Jasmine asked one last question.

"When I transferred my powers to Pakura, I also transferred my life force. This life force formed into what you are seeing, that's all." Shiki said, as he faded away. "Goodbye, everyone."

'Farewell, Shiki.' Everyone thought.

* * *

As soon as they woke up in the real world, Ash noted it was night time already, and it's probably suppertime. However, he was soon distracted when four collapsed from their injuries. Ash took out a Pokéball, and sent out Mewtwo.

"Mewtwo, take Jude, Phillip, Rosaline and Lance to the hospital." Ash instructed, as Phillip insisted on taking Pakura's Music Box so he could fix it, which Ash nodded his approval.

_"What about you, Ash?" _Mewtwo asked.

"I'm fine. I'll go later. I need to take care of Pakura first." Ash replied. Then a thought occurred to him. "Wait! I want to ask Lance something."

Mewtwo stopped, as they turned to look at him.

"Are you….going to charge her?" Ash asked the Johto Champion. "For killing your clan?"

Lance stayed quiet for a while before saying, "No. She doesn't deserve it."

"Thank you." Ash smiled.

Lance nodded, before being teleported to the hospital by Mewtwo.

* * *

"You what?" Pakura shouted. She had woken up half an hour after they were sent to the hospital and she heard Cynthia and Ash talking about Shiki testing them by asking them to hand her over. She was currently throwing whatever objects she could land her hands on. Their Pokémon were currently outside, probably having dinner.

Ash was currently trying to dodge them, and trying to tell her to calm down. Finally, after 10 minutes, Pakura grabbed Shiki's body, stormed to the room connected to his, which was where she was going to stay from now on (Ash already moved her items and clothing into that room. What was worse, he had confiscated her liquor and antidepressants). He sighed, as he knew he'd have to tend to the bruises he sported in the process.

When Pakura closed the door, she sighed in defeat. She got her Gardevoir and Glaceon and told them to bury Shiki in the Ice Grave, and sat, elbows on her knees and head in her hands.

'Why? Why are they that selfish in keeping me here with them? I hate them all. Why are they so hell-bent in keeping me here in this cruel world?' Of course, she hate almost everybody by now. Herself more than anyone.

"_You're broken." _A voice sounding like Shiki's sounded in her brain.

'No shit, Sherlock.' Pakura thought bitterly.

"_I still love you. Do you still believe that? I'm still here." _

'Of course you are. No one was there for me like you.' Pakura mentally sighed.

"_I will put you back together." _

Of course he will. If only she could join him. No wait, she still can. There was only one thing for her to do.

Meanwhile, Ash collected chicken pie and some croquettes for Pakura, as he knew they were her favourite. He knew she haven't been eating well, and from now on, he would make sure she gets three meals a day.

He knocked on the connecting door. "Paku?"

No answer.

"Come on, I know you are mad at us, but we're your friends, we're here to help you out." Ash said.

Silence.

"If you're not answering, I'm coming in." Ash announced.

Still there was no response.

Ash shook his head, and opened the door. He nearly dropped the plate in fright, as he dashed over to cut the rope Pakura was hanging from.

With trembling hands, Ash placed his ear on her chest to listen for a heartbeat.

**BP: And that's the end of chapter 14 and Season 1! (Please read everything, it's important.) It was over 75 pages long, this chapter, twice as long as any chapter. I should've cut to 15 chapters instead of 14 but I promised. The memory scenes took a lot more words than I thought.**

**Ok, to explain why Pakura thought her friends deserted her was because after she erased her memories, they stopped hanging out with her altogether, as she planted an idea in their head (in addition to erasing their memories, she also modified some as well) that she was a person who is unapproachable and thus they only talked to her about work matters. Other than that, they didn't hang out or talk other topics, and she felt left out when she hear them make plans to hang out without her. So in time, she started to hate them for "deserting" her when she protected them although she was the one who erased their memories.**

**Ash didn't interfere with the fight because he knew the three wanted to deal with this matter themselves, about their strained relationship with the Leader. **

**Now, I did promise you that you can decide on Pakura's fate, so here are six choices as to Pakura's fate before I start the next Season:**

**a) Pakura lives, but she goes to prison for her crimes**

**b) She lives, but she gets sent to PAL Rehab (PAL Mental Hospital)**

**c) She lives, and her friends help her with her emotional recovery **

**d) Pakura survives the suicide hanging, but Ash later orders her execution **

**e) She doesn't survive the hanging**

**f) Lance changed his mind and charges her**

**g) She uses the Life Transference technique on Shiki (If this is chosen Shiki would replace her in the next season) **

**Also, for the AV, I did mention I'd put in the Champions Tournament. I REALLY need answers for these questions to help me finsih chapter 1: **

**1\. Who do you want to send out among the PAL Elite (including Ash) to compete in this Tournament (It's mainly off screen, as most action is in the Pokémon World Championship but still….I want to make this as different from the original as possible. Yes, you can vote for Ash.)**

**2\. I decided Pakura would be the Pokémon Performer in addition to being a Coordinator. (For this, I'll also add more talents for the others, and Ash himself would get more as well). Should she be Kalos Queen or PAL Duchess (Title you get when you win the PAL Pokémon Showcase Master Class Tournament). **

**3\. Assuming Ash doesn't know Bonnie, Serena and Clemont (story takes place after BW series like original, how do you want me to include them in (if you want in, if you don't you can tell me as well)**

**4\. And finally, pairings! (Besides Ash and Pakura, since they would be lovers in this story)**

**For the High School AU:**

**1\. Should Bonnie, Serena and Clemont side Ash, or the traitors? If you think only one or two should side Ash, tell me who you think it should be. **

**2\. Pairings you want to see in PAL Academy (yes you can suggest on all five). (No Harem or more than one lover, I'm bad at those)**

**3\. Should Shiki be Pakura's brother and she gets together with someone else, or a student in school that becomes her boyfriend? (Well, Shiki is alive in this story) **

**I know I'm disturbing you, but please, I need some answers so I can finish Chapter 1 of the AV and write the other stories. **

**I am not very good at writing fight scenes, you see, and neither am I good at writing flashback scenes that tells the whole story, so I let Shiki explain the rest to the group. Sorry if it was inconsistent or anything.**

**The story has not ended yet. It's just that this chapter ends Season 1. Next up would be Season 2, and the end of Season 2 will complete this story. **

**Anyway, please review, and tell me what you think of the finale of Season 1.**


	15. The road to recovery

**BP: And what you've been waiting for, Season 2 of this story has begun! Well, it mainly involved training and plans from the other side (yes the Five Bosses are striking soon), while trying to help an uncooperative Leader in their side, and also, the traitors are a thorn in their side….again. This might be Pakura centric, as it centers on recovery of the PAL Elites, Lance and Pakura's mental state (But it was mainly trying to help her mental state)**

**Warning: FNAF references. I've been reading about them (not playing), and I figure some of their ideas may be good for my story. I don't own them, though. **

_Ash rushed into Pakura's room just in time to see her transfer the last of her life force and powers to Shiki's corpse. She closed her eyes, and fell towards the ground, and Ash, snapping out of his shock, rushed forward to catch her. _

_Shiki opened his eyes, and sat up on the bed. "What happened?" He mumbled, just as the other Elite members rushed in to see this horrifying scene. _

_Shiki frowned when he saw the four of them. "Who are you guys? Oh wait, you're the PAL Elite members, so I assume this girl must be an Elite too?" He pointed to Rosaline. _

"_Yeah, I am." Rosaline replied. "I specialize in Fire and Psychic Pokémon." _

_Shiki took a good look at her. "Your psychic power is quite weak compared to ours, though. How did…" He was cut off by Jude shouting, "Paku? Paku? Wake up, please!" _

_Shiki turned to the source of the noise, and widened his eyes at the sight of his fiancé with her eyes closed, and unmoving. _

"_Out of the way!" Shiki pushed Jude and Phillip, and grabbed her from Ash's arms. He checked her pulse, and realized there was none._

"_Come on, Paku, this isn't funny." Shiki said, feeling uneasy. "Please wake up." He tried to use aura and CPR again, but to no avail. _

_When the fact that Pakura was dead got into his head, tears formed in Shiki's eyes, and he began sobbing. As soon as they heard the sobbing noise, everyone also started crying. _

"_What'd I do without you, Paku?" Shiki was crying. "You meant the world to me. I loved you so much, my wish was to save you. Why did you…" _

_He hung his head as he carried Pakura bridal style, and walked out of the room. Only to run into Lance outside. _

"_Shiki?" Lance was shocked to see his friend alive and well. But if his friend is here, that means…._

_That was when Lance spotted the dead body in his arms, and broke down. _

Ash sat up, tears in his eyes, and yelling, before he stopped himself. Fortunately, his Pokémon did not wake up from the split second scream.

Another nightmare of losing his friend. Ash had to convince himself that it wasn't real.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Ash sighed, but went to open.

He smiled when he saw who it was. "What are you doing here, Cynthia?" Ash asked.

"I figured you need some company tonight. Ever since you lost your Elites, and your nightmares haunting you…it's taking a toll on you." Cynthia entered the room.

Ash knew what she meant. Nightmares- which he was no stranger too before the answers was revealed- now plague him whenever he sleeps. He relieved versions of events that would have killed Pakura, and these said events succeeded in killing her. Him killing her when he confronted her. She succeeding in her suicide. Shiki taking her away in her memories. Her dying from the time she drowned in the river, and Shiki crying over her body. It reflected his fear of losing his friend and former mentor.

Cynthia climbed into bed, and Ash held her.

"Everything would be fine." Cynthia reassured him.

"I hope so too." Ash mumbled, and drifted off to sleep again.

He didn't have any nightmares after that.

* * *

(ohhh a ohhh a ohhh!)

_(Ash and Pikachu running along the forest, smiling)_

We're unbreakable

_(The five of them training with their weapons in the gym)_

Running down this endless highway

_(Ash running away from Pallet Town)_

Hoping to keep my friends beside me

_(Ash sadly looking into the hospital room where Pakura was confined)_

We couldn't give in

_(The PAL Elites, except Pakura killing the many people that made Pakura's life hell) _

Or we will lose

_(Shiki taking Pakura away from the four of them)_

This would be our ultimate test

_(Pakura fighting alongside her Elites and love interests against the five bosses) _

No matter if it's the land

_(Ash, Rosaline, Phillip, Cynthia, Grimsley and Jasmine sending out their Pokémon to fight against a few villainous members' Pokémon) _

the sea

_(Jude underwater nodding towards his Water Pokémon) _

the sky

_(Pakura flying in the air alongside Lance with his Dragonite) _

They can never win but they sure can try

_(The PAL Elite and their love interests facing off against The Five Bosses.) _

(ohhh a ohhh a ohhh)

_(Shiki practicing with his sword)_

We're unbreakable

_(Illusion fades to reveal Pakura practicing with the sword, with Lance watching from afar, smiling) _

P-A-L Elite Four!

_(Cynthia and Ash practicing their hand-to-hand combat against each other)_

(ohhh a ohhh a ohhh)

_(Shiki and Pakura using their telekinesis together)_

We're undefeatable

_(Ash's Pikachu electrocuting the traitors)_

(Pakura) They are still haunting me, my past

_(Pakura pacing up and down in her room) _

(PAL Elites and love interests) Don't worry, with us, they won't last

_(Her Elites watching her as she uneasily went to sleep) _

(ohhh a ohhh a ohhh)

We're unbeatable

_(Someone sneaking up on Jasmine, only to step into a trap. Phillip revealed himself to Jasmine and they smile) _

P-A-L Elite Four!

_(Rosaline and Grimsley sending their Espeon and Umbreon out to fight.) _

(ohhh a ohhh a ohhh)

_(Pakura's Fraxure evolving to Haxorus)_

Elite Four

_(Everyone's partner Pokémon sitting together talking)_

We're unbreakable!

_(Ash and his Elites seeing the sunset at a hill with their love interests, including Lance and Karen) _

(Sung in the tune of Unbeatable)

* * *

"Unfortunately, due to the fact that over half the participants for the Top 8 were injured and thus sent to the hospital, the Top 8 would be postponed until further notice. Even the PAL Contest would be postponed due to the fact that their Head Judge is also incapacitated. Champion Red, what are the causes for their injuries?" The reporter faced the mic towards Ash.

"As PAL is a prestigious region, it also attracts unwanted poachers and assassins. We had been attacked unexpectedly by assassins while we were in Pakura's room hanging out. Her room was destroyed as well." Ash replied. "Champion Lance himself was there at the wrong time as well, and he got caught in the crossfire as a result."

"How did they get in?" The reporter asked.

"Apparently, they were disguised as the staff who tends to the residents in the Tower, which caught us off guard." Ash said, sighing.

"And how about Princess Pakura? There wasn't any visible injuries on her."

"Paku usually keeps a distance from us. As she wasn't really on the scene when they attacked, she was safe from the attacks. But I still sent her to the hospital to be treated for trauma just in case." Ash answered.

"You're a caring Champion." The reporter nodded.

Ash sighed, as he clicked off the TV. Sure, he had understood everything about the mysteries, but at what cost? All four of his Elites are currently incapacitated (three physically, one mentally), leaving him the only able person left to be able to perform his everyday duties, and he was still emotionally shaken by what he had witnessed (then again, everyone was affected emotionally).

And then there was Pakura's attempted suicide.

According to Akira, had Ash cut the rope a second later, she would have died, which added to everyone's distress. He hadn't been sleeping or eating well either. What's more, he had almost no time to put himself together to take care of all their Pokémon, do the paperwork, and the like.

Ash figured since he was a little bored, he should go to the Hall of Fame building to check on the first princess Shiki mentioned he named Pakura after, and after that, visit his friends. He left the Tower towards the said building, which was a Star shaped white building and had the sign "Hall of Fame" engraved on it. Ash entered the elegant building, where the pathways were full of stars that are permanent public monuments to achievement in the PAL society, also known as the Walk of Fame (he himself had a star with his name on it). He only had been here once, and that was when he was crowned the Prince.

Of course, in there were portraits and statues of the previous princes and princesses, which means Ash himself had a portrait and a statue as well. Below his portrait was a plaque that stated his achievements. Ash made a mental note to do something about Pakura's portrait and statue, as she had two (now that he knew that the Dragon Princess and Pakura are one and the same).

Ash walked on until he reached the first princess of PAL. The portrait was of a beautiful woman with sapphire blue eyes, in fact, she somewhat resembled his Leader though she was smaller, slighter, curves are less prominent and rather less beautiful than his Leader. Apparently unlike Pakura, she is not modest, as her dress showed off her cleavage, and it was a slit up the side, showing her creamy and shapely thigh. She was also wearing a sparkly tiara that looked good with her hair, and her statue had an Umbreon with her, and Ash noted she was known as the Dark Princess.

"**Wow, except for the eye colour, she had the same dark hair and apathetic look of Pakura." **Lucario said.

Ash nodded in agreement, and read the plaque that was below the portrait.

"Pakura Goldstein. Born 15 November 1860, in New York City. Went to Bellport Grade School, and was Head Prefect. Went on to study in New Day Academy, and had a perfect grade point average and got the highest score on SATs, even on the essay part.

Captain of the female tennis club, and also became Student Council President. Although she can play both singles and doubles, she has a preference for Doubles alongside Natsuhi Davenport, her Doubles partner.

Won gold in all tennis competitions, and moved on to professional tennis. Moved to PAL to seek another career after the sudden death of her Doubles partner (died from an unknown disease), and gave up professional tennis after that. Took the Hunter Exam within one year and passed. Became a Poacher Hunter, and member of the Zodiac (codename Scorpio) with just her Dark Pokémon, and eventually appointed the newest Princess after earning three stars on her field. Never married, and retired in 1915. Died in 10 January, 1916 due to suicide." Ash read out.

He sighed. Plaques only gave the summary of what happened. 'So this is Pakura Goldstein.' He read the part where she gave up professional tennis after her partner's death, and had the feeling that she had loved the boy very much, and the trauma must've haunted her until it drove her to suicide.

"**These two sure have a lot in common." **Pikachu commented.

"No mention of family. I think her relationship with her family isn't very good either. Probably like Paku's family." Ash said.

**"She must've ran away from home after she graduated from this New Day Academy." **Lucario remarked.

"Indeed." Ash said. He must prevent what happened to the first princess to happen to Pakura.

"**Should we go see them?" **Pikachu asked.

Ash shrugged. It's a good time as any to see them, as he left the Hall of Fame to see his friends. When he reached the hospital, the smell of antiseptic hit his nose.

The receptionist greeted him, and he nodded as he made his way towards his Elites, including Lance's (but not Pakura, as she was in a different ward) ward. In PAL General Hospital, there are four classes of hospital rooms in a ward: Class C (9-bedded room) Class B (5 or 6-bedded room, semi-automated electric bed), Class A (4-bedded room, attached bath room and toilet, television, telephone, semi-automated electric bed, and sometimes choice of meals.) and finally, Class S (Single room, attached bath room and toilet, toiletries, television, telephone, fully automated electric bed, choice of meals, mini fridge and optional sleeper unit.)

The higher the room class, the more money is to be paid per night. All of them (including Lance) was in the Class S rooms. While the four Elites didn't need to pay for their stay, Ash had to pay for Lance's stay, and he decided get Clair transferred to the Class S room as well and pay for Clair's hospital bills while he was at it.

He walked past the other wards and rooms, where there was a guy with all sorts of tubes sticking out of him, another guy throwing up in a basin, a teenage girl 'sleeping one off' (Ash had to shake his head at this one.), an old lady who had a heart palpitations, and a supermodel who had fallen off the runway stage (Ash remembered Jude mentioning this). He entered the nearest room, which was Lance's.

"How are you feeling?" Ash asked Lance. He noted that Lance's wounds looked better and some of his wounds have faded to scars which was disappearing. His arm had several tubes that extended to the wall behind him.

"I've been better." Lance shrugged. "I've been waking up, eating, and being knocked out again. Probably because they want to work on my wounds without resistance. It won't be long before the bandages are gone."

"I'm sorry, you were never meant to be caught in the crossfire you know." Ash said.

'Looks like old Ash hasn't been completely lost.' Lance thought, but he replied, "It's alright. I have been in more dangerous situations than this."

"Well….but still, unlike you, the other three, Jasmine, Grimsley and Cynthia, they signed up for this, but not you." Ash mumbled.

"It's ok. At least now I know some things for the better." Lance answered. "I blame my Clan you know, for all the events that led up until now."

"Unfortunately I don't have healing powers. Only Paku has that." Ash sighed, looking at his injuries.

"Well at least the doctors here could save me. PAL has some of the best doctors after all." Lance waved it off.

"Well...uh...I doubt she'd heal your cousin, but I'll try and convince her..." Ash said.

"No need to do so. Clair can heal just fine on her own." Lance shook his head. When he seen the very memory that told the reason why Pakura attacked Clair, he realized Pakura had just wanted a loving family, and was angry at Clair that she never appreciated it.

Speaking of Pakura..."How is the Leader?" Lance asked Ash.

"Haven't checked on her yet, but I doubt her mental state is any better than last time…." Ash said, sighing to himself. "Well….I just want to let you know that attempts on our lives are common so if you get too close to us, you might get yourself caught in the middle like last time. I'll understand if you don't want to associate with us but keep what you saw to yourself, alright?"

Lance nodded, just as the nurse came in carrying a tray, as it was time for his meal. Ash helped place the tray across Lance's thighs, as the nurse pressed something that rose him to a sitting position. Ash nodded to the nurse that she can leave, as he adjusted the pillows. His meal consisted of roast beef and peas and soft rolls- although his portions were strictly controlled.

Ash went on, "So uh...my advice is unless you are willing to out your life on the line for us, don't associate with us, because you'll be caught in situations where it involves your own life. So think carefully before you make your decision. Especially with Pakura, she's really unpredictable."

"I'll decide for myself. Maybe I'll tell you my decision when you visit me next time."

Ash nodded, and left to see the others.

"How is she?" Ash entered Rosaline's room, to see Grimsley tucking her in.

"Just got knocked out." Grimsley replied. Rosaline had tubes connecting to her arm as well, and her leg was up in a cast. Most of her body were now covered in bandages. Even her nose was bandaged as well.

Ash nodded. "It looks like it'd take a while before the Top 8 commences, with injuries like that." He knew she, along with the other two, would take a much longer time than Lance to recover, unless Pakura heals them.

Grimsley sighed, as he took Rosaline's hand.

"You might want to thank Paku when she recovers her sanity. After all, she did give you the Egg in the first place." Ash reminded him.

"Noted." and with that, Ash decided to leave them be.

He entered Jude's room, where to his surprise, he saw Karen of the Johto Elite sitting at his bedside. Jude's condition wasn't any better than Rosaline. He was bandaged all over as well, and knocked out, and even had a cast on his right arm.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked Karen, bewildered.

Karen looked over her shoulder, and saw Ash. "Oh, well….when I heard what happened, I thought I keep Jude company."

"Jude won't be happy if he wakes up and see a girl at his bedside that isn't any of our love interests or his fellow Elites." Ash warned.

"I know, but he did a lot for me you know, risking his injury to save my Pokémon."

"He didn't do it for you; probably did it for the Pokémon." Ash said.

Karen sighed. "Yes, but….I'd like to know why Jude treats girls so coldly. I mean, I want to help him overcome that too."

"You love him?" Ash asked.

"Sort of. I found him interesting since we first met."

"It's not because of the fame or looks, right?"

"No, of course not! Besides, generally, I saw him as a sweet, funny and interesting person. He's also somewhat mysterious in the sense that he is secretive of what had happened to him, which makes me want to know more about him."

"Fair enough." Ash shrugged. "But you can't just say it to him; you have to prove it to him. He'll take a while to warm up to you, I guess. But I must warn you: Associating with a PAL Elite can spell danger to you, so you might want to consider before you make a move on him."

'Same thing Jude said to me the last time.' Karen thought, as Ash left for Phillip's room.

Phillip himself was awake, and his condition was better in the sense that he sported no broken limbs (just broken ribs). He had his box of tools next to his bed, and he was sitting up repairing the music box he snagged from Pakura's old room, talking to Jasmine about the Cobalion, one of the Legendaries he had under his ownership.

Ash cleared his throat, and the two turned to him, surprised.

"Hey, Ash." Phillip waved.

"How is the repairing going?" Ash asked.

"Good, but that damned Benzene, breaking us apart and breaking her precious things just because she lost, ooh, if he's alive, I'd have…" he then started shouting some expletives while repairing the music box, which caused Jasmine to shout, "Phillip!"

Ash shook his head to Jasmine, indicating she should let him rant. After all, Phillip was Pakura's best friend.

"….and there will be hell to pay if we ever meet again! Hope he rots in the Distortion World!" Phillip declared an hour later.

"Are you done?" Ash asked.

"Now I am." Phillip replied. "Here, the music box is being repaired. I hope this'll make her somewhat responsive. I might as well make another CommuniDex for her since she destroyed hers." He handed it to Ash, who nodded, and walked out of the room carrying the music box.

When Ash played, he realized the music box contained various songs that was sung by the Dragon Duo themselves, and rotating around the box were two figurines dancing, and it was very similar to the portrait Rosaline painted of them, the outfits the figurines wore even resembled the ones on the portrait colour-wise.

Ash sighed. Besides this music box being repaired, the only other good thing that happened after getting their answers was Pikachu and Buneary had an Egg together. He had given it to Pakura in hopes that it would help Pakura out of her depression. Only it didn't. In fact, she didn't do anything but sit propped up in her hospital bed, or huddled under the blankets, refusing to come out. Even if she was listening to him, he had to say everything three times just to get through to her brain.

Despite the fact that Pakura was the one who endangered everyone, Ash had to forgive her, since she at least had the best idea of what he had been through in the past, and how ruined her life had become. And it took too much energy to be angry at someone who had this depressed look all the time, wanting her fiancé back. Also, she hadn't been sleeping because of her nightmares, which seemed to be about her past. But she refused to say anything about it when he had asked.

The only response she gives was a shake of her head whenever the nurse would bring in her meals. Occasionally, Ash would see her pet some of her Pokémon or the Pokémon Egg, but that was about it. Ash had to take care of her Pokémon and the Egg as well, so that they do not starve. He retrieved her Dragon/Psychic Pokémon from her cave as well, and he was astounded at the combined amount of Pokémon the Dragon Duo owned (but not as much as him, of course). Who knew the Dragon Duo had at least 7 Legendary Pokémon among themselves?

And if she isn't trapped in her own world of sadness, she was very hysterical and unstable, lashing out with her powers and assaulting him whenever he entered the room, believing he ruined her chance of being with Shiki. It usually took at least 10 members of the Zodiac to restrain her, considering she was a very powerful fighter.

Also, during one of her rage fits, she had destroyed the hospital room she was living in (similar to how she trashed her room while fighting her Elites), forcing them to transfer her to another room, and Ash paid for the damages. Not that he can't afford it, considering he earns a lot of money just for completing a Hunter mission, but that meant one less room for a patient to stay should they land in hospital.

He sighed, and made his way to the Leader's room. Maybe he'd get some progress with this music box.

* * *

Meanwhile, after Ash had left, Lance had been thinking what he had learnt over the span of one mere week. At the beginning of the week, he thought Pakura's eyes were poisonous, mocking as she laughed at how useless he was, thinking she was better than everybody. The emotionless eyes that doesn't care on others well-being, never really speaking unless it's to scorn others.

He found solace in the Dragon Princess, whose voice was gentle and kind, and she was extremely knowledgeable in Dragon Training, and she had helped him so much, even giving him a Key Stone and Mega Stones he would need, including an Egg that hatched into a Latios. He fell in love with the enigmatic princess in a span of few days. No girl had an effect on him like her.

Of course, he was extremely shocked when he realized the Dragon Princess and Pakura were one and the same. And he realized she was the one who killed his clan, and would have killed his parents too, if they never showed her true compassion, and make her hesitate, and probably allowed her to escape as well. She even attacked Clair a day ago, and most likely wanted to kill Clair as well. He was ready to charge her, for his clan and his cousin. How could he have loved a girl like that?

But then he saw everything from her eyes, he realized she was a sad person, as proven by the tears constantly running down her face for the early years. He thought the life he saw in her purple eyes when she was with Shiki was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. Until tragedy struck the two, and he thought she had the saddest eyes he had ever seen. His heart had ached the when he thought of those amethyst eyes that her seen a lot of pain, but betrayed none of it, which was probably why it took so long to figure out she was the Dragon Princess.

Ash had warned him she was the best assassin in PAL, and possibly even the most dangerous Elite member among the five. Pakura was a very dangerous and powerful fighter for her age. According to Ash, she possessed such prodigious talent that in many ways, Pakura had become more dangerous than even him.

He wondered if he should pursue the beautiful but murderous princess, or stay safe, and carry this secret to his home.

Lance sat up. No! He can't return to Blackthorn anymore, not after he had heard the full story of what his Clan did. They ruined her life, not once, but twice, by killing Shiki, his best friend, and her beloved fiancé. And she was forced to watch it all.

At the end of the day, under her tough, emotionless, and lacking of empathy exterior, she was really sad, hurt and traumatized.

At her first years, she really believed her family loved her, even though they had abused her, and went as far as to defend her family in front of Giovanni. It wasn't until her mother thrown her aside in front of other people and said she had no daughter that she really began to open her eyes. He really couldn't blame the hate and revenge slowly seeping into her heart, and the death of her fiancé by his own clan's hands was most likely what drove her to kill his own clan.

_But the question is, do you still love her, despite knowing what she did? _

Lance could safely say that he couldn't side his clan any longer, despite being the Leader.

Well, then, heck that. He'll associate with the PAL Elites, and forget staying away from the dangerous Leader, he's going to snag the princess as his date. He's a member of the G-men, he is the one that can survive anything they throw at him. He knows Pakura most likely won't love again, unless there is someone that is willing to melt her frozen heart, break down the self-defensive emotional wall she has built around herself, and he will be that person. He had secretly promised Shiki he'd help the PAL Elites at her mental recovery, why not get an extremely beautiful princess he fell in love with out of it as his girlfriend?

Unknown to him, two Champions were hiding in the corridor, talking.

"I don't know why you have to disturb Lance, Wallace." Steven said.

"Look, because of her, the PAL Contest is being postponed a second time. Coordinators are not happy, and I want this over and done with too. She wasn't injured, and Champion Red claimed she was traumatized, but something is wrong, because the other three are heavily injured, including Lance, he might have answers." With that, he opened the door.

Lance heard the door open and much to his surprise, he saw Steven and Wallace.

"Hey, guys, why are you here?" Lance asked.

"Heard a fellow Champion got injured, and thought we'd check on you. What happened?" Wallace looked over at Lance's injuries, and Steven sat on the edge of the bed.

"Was in the wrong place at the wrong time, that's all." Lance shrugged. "No need to worry too much. The PAL Elites got it worse if you ask me."

"Oh yeah, caught a glimpse of them through the glass. They looked like they got into a car accident three times in a row." Steven replied.

"Luckily PAL has some of the best medical equipment and advanced methods to heal me. Hear they even have ways to remove scars that you might acquire many years ago." Lance waved them off.

"Wish they shared their secrets with us. Then again….so did you see who attacked you?" Wallace asked.

"No, actually. I was pushed down and blocked by Phillip, who was standing over me when the attack happened." Lance made up. "Everyone was injured, except for Pakura."

"And why is this so?" Steven raised his eyebrows.

There was a sheen of sweat on Lance's forehead as he worked around the question. "She was….away from the attack. She was hiding, you see."

"If you were really attacked, why aren't any of your Pokémon in the Pokémon Center?" Wallace interrupted. "I know for one if I were to attack, I'd attack your Pokémon too, to make sure you can't fight back."

"I didn't take my Pokémon with me." Lance mumbled.

"That explains yours, but doesn't explain the others. We all know that they always have at least one Pokémon out with them." Steven frowned.

"Well, they left it in their room, and had no time to retrieve it." Lance explained feebly.

They stayed silent for a long time, before Wallace said, "Ok, if you say so."

"Rest well, alright?" Steven nodded.

Lance nodded back, and they left. He laid back, and allowed a cold liquid to be seeped into his vein, knocking him out again.

"Well, that wasn't much. I guess we have one option left: Ask Pakura. Let's eavesdrop on the doctors, and find out where her room is."

* * *

'What am I going to do?' Pakura thought. Ever since that suicide attempt, she had been watched 24/7 to be sure she never tried that stunt again. Why can't they just see that she wanted her fiancé by her side? Was it that difficult to grant her wish? Those people won't give up even when she was being extremely difficult.

People kept talking at her, talking, talking, and talking. Ash, her Champion. The doctor taking care of her, Akira Dentsuin (Gemini). The nurse Ai Uozumi (Pieces). The mishmash of her Elite's love interests. Her Sylveon, Skitty and Eevee. But not Shiki's Espeon, who just watches. Apparently, Espeon insisted on staying in the hospital room with her, or so she heard Ash say the other day.

What they wanted for her was to return back to her old self, reconcile with her Elites (and maybe heal them), return as the Leader of the Elite, and to become the PAL's Princess again. It was true she was the leader, the face, the voice, the embodiment of PAL, alongside Ash, and they wanted her to do it again. Become the Princess that everyone can count on, the Elite Leader that can efficiently fix others' mistakes once more.

But how can she, now her plan has fallen apart, she is still separated from her fiancé, and how can she reconcile with someone who searches her room out of curiosity? No, her Elites deserved it….right? Sometimes Pakura listened to them, sometimes she just watched Espeon's tail wag from side to side or the Pokémon Egg that was on her bedside. Other times, she simply used her powers against them, forcing them to flee.

Yesterday afternoon, as the door closed behind her (them having given up for the day), she heard Ai say, "Maybe we should return her to her fiancé?" Meaning give her back to Shiki. She couldn't agree more, but apparently Ash objected as she heard Ash shout her to tears.

And what did they do instead? Put her under watch, and try to talk her out of her depression so she can go back to her everyday life (with the other Elite members as friends now instead of just workmates) , as Ash refused to replace her, and he even kicked Grimsley when he suggested it. She wasn't sure if she had enough sanity to even return to her positions. Akira was also assessing her mental condition to see if she still can be saved or it was too late for her.

Was there any point in returning to her duties? They are as safe as they can get. They don't need her. As for the threat known as Benzene, he was already long dead, disposed and probably eaten by Sharpedo and Carvanha, which is of course, irreversible. How is it going to help, when every time she was driven by emotion, more people keep on getting severely injured or die? There was her former travelling companion Rosaline, her pseudo older brother, Jude, her best friend, Phillip, and even Lance, who she dimly noted looked hurt when she attacked him in cold blood. They were all in the hospital because of her.

And of course, there was her fiancé. Handsome, brilliant, enigmatic, smart, sweet, lovely and caring Shiki was dead because of her. She pushed that thought away because it's too impossibly painful to dwell on without losing her fragile grip on the situation.

Of course, her dreams every night reminded her what she did was unforgivable, and who knows? Her Elites and Ash might be out for revenge.

She looked at the Pokémon Egg Ash had given her. Poor thing must be wondering why the owner isn't taking care of it.

She heard footsteps. Someone is coming. When the door opened, her eyes widened in alarm, and then became confused when she saw Steven and Wallace.

"Pakura? It's me, Wallace." Wallace greeted her.

"Wallace?" Some of the clouds seemed to clear. "Wallace, it's you."

"Yeah." Wallace nodded, relieved she could recognize him despite her trauma.

Her Espeon leapt on her lap, growling at the two strangers.

"How do you feel?" Steven asked, as Pakura signalled for her Espeon to stand down.

For one moment, Wallace thought her Eevee evolved into Espeon, but he saw the Eevee playing on the floor, which meant his theory was wrong.

'Since when does she own an Espeon?' Wallace thought.

"Awful." Pakura muttered.

"Well, you were traumatized from watching your Elites getting attacked, I can't blame you." Steven said.

Pakura gave him the "What are you talking about?" look.

"Wait, what?" Pakura said. "That's not true! I…"

"What are you doing here?" A cold voice asked. Steven and Wallace felt something cold and sharp at their throats. They turned, and saw that Ash was pointing two knives at their throats.

"I'll give you five seconds to explain how you found Paku's room. If not, I'll kill you on the spot." Ash gave them a chilling smile. "Five…."

"Do we have to do this, Red?" Steven asked nervously, eyeing the knife.

"Four…"

"Can't we reason this out, Red?" Wallace pleaded, scared for his life.

"Three…" Ash counted down.

"Oh, come on! You won't kill us, would you?" Steven asked.

"Two…"

"Won't you get charged for killing us?" Wallace frowned.

"Just shows what you know about PAL. One…." Ash made the movement to slit their throats.

"Ok! We went and eavesdrop on the doctors talking to find out where her room is! I wanted to find out what is really going on as I want the PAL Contest to be over and done with, and without her as Head Judge, it can't go on!" Wallace yelled.

"They confessed, Ash. Put the knife down." Pakura mumbled, inadvertently exposing Ash to the two Champions.

"Wait a minute…" Steven said. "Ash?"

"Don't tell me…" Wallace was staring at him.

Ash sighed, and removed his hood to reveal his identity. "Yes, it's me. I'm the PAL Champion."

"You're kidding! Why have you been hiding all this time?" Steven was puzzled.

"Yeah, what happened?" Wallace frowned.

"Issues with my old friends…" Ash said vaguely. "Listen, don't tell anyone about me, I got a lot on my plate now, with all my Elites incapacitated." He sighed. "Listen, I'll tell you a little about what happened, alright? Wait for me at the 12th floor at the Tower. I'll come find you after that."

Wallace opened his mouth, but Steven nudged him on the ribs. "Alright." With that, they left.

Ash turned to Pakura, looking at her with concern as he tried to gauge her emotional state. Before anyone could say anything, he took some bowls and fed her Sylveon, Skitty, Eevee and Espeon (who insisted on staying out to look out for her), and he took out something as well. Her precious music box.

Ash opened it, and Pakura listened in surprise as there was music once more for the first time in years.

"Phillip snagged it from your room before he was sent to hospital. Insisted on repairing it despite him being injured." Ash said quietly. He was careful with his tone, as he knew she had been through hell and back.

"…" Pakura held the music box as she watched the dancing figurines.

Ash watched the emotion in her eyes for the first time since she was sent to the hospital for observation, and knew that the trip to Phillip's room wasn't a complete waste. She hugged the music box close to her chest. Ash knew she wanted to cry, but did not have the ability to do so.

"The three of them remembered everything. Shiki returned all their memories you know. They miss you, and want you to come home." Ash went on.

'Home? What is Ash talking about? My home's gone the moment Shiki died.' Pakura thought.

"I know, you hate Rosaline for searching your room out of curiosity without permission. You've already punished her by giving her nightmares and knowing all her deepest, darkest secrets. She's now in the hospital recuperating from her heavy injuries."

"Shiki would make a much better Leader than I ever would." Pakura finally said.

"We won't have it any other way. You are the only person we would call a true Leader. Not Shiki, not anyone else." Ash answered. "Even if Akira says it's too late for you, I'll never allow anyone, not even yourself, to put you to sleep." With that statement made, he left, and ran into Akira outside.

"We got the results after the observations." Akira said, carrying his clipboard containing his notes.

"How is her mental state?" Ash asked, concerned.

"She's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. It'll be extremely difficult, but I think it's still possible to save her." Akira nodded. "Physically, she's surprisingly in very good health despite her addiction. Do you-"

"No, we're not." Ash cut him off. He knew Akira was going to ask if he wanted to send her to PAL Rehab. "We're going to do it ourselves."

Akira nodded in approval. "Well then, we'll keep her for observation for a while longer and then we'll release her from the hospital, in the condition that you all watch her carefully, and you would take care of her."

"Thank you, doctor." Ash smiled. At least Akira didn't insist her to be sent to the PAL Rehab. If word got to public, it's most likely they'll strip her of all her positions. And the health thing wasn't a surprise to him, since she has Healing Regenerative Factor.

"There is also one other thing we observed." Akira said.

"What?" Ash asked.

"She's suffering from nightmares every day. According to Ai, she said it had been happening every time she does sleep years ago. She mumbled something about a playing a game when the tournament started. I strongly advise you to find out what is going on."

Ash nodded, and left the hospital. Perhaps he should make a late night visit and see for himself what Akira meant.

* * *

That night, Pakura entered Phillip's room, clutching to the music box he had repaired. She had to see if he was the one that repaired her music box. She had the ability to extract specific memories she want just by touching a person, and thinking of the question, and whether the target is conscious or not, their memory would extracted to answer Pakura's question. Attempting to create false information is impossible, since she can extract her target's purest memories. With this, it can also be used to see the past of an object just by touching it.

She touched an unconscious Phillip on the shoulder, and watched him collapse from the injuries, and was forced to be taken to the hospital, and insisted on taking Pakura's music box with him. She watched as he waved off Jasmine's and Ash's concerns as he repaired the music box despite his injuries, saying, "It's the least I can do after what my best friend did for me." There was also him expressing the wish that she would return as his best friend, and not just fellow Elites.

'So Ash was not lying when he said it was Phillip.' Pakura thought. She reached out a hand, and hesitated, before shrugging, and started to heal Phillip's remaining injuries, which was quite a lot. She had liked him the most among the three Elites, and he had repaired one of her most precious gift. She figured the least she could do was to heal him.

"Well, Phil, it looks like my healing powers can't heal my mental state. Guess I'll have to do this alone." Pakura muttered, as the last of his injuries vanished, and she panted due to the injuries needing quite a bit of aura to heal. Unbeknownst to her, Phillip had woken up at this point, but he pretended to be asleep.

As she left, Phillip opened his eyes.

'You don't have to be alone.' Phillip thought, looking at his now healed body.

Determined, he got up and went to Pakura's room. Those amethyst eyes locked on him instantly, as she observed him warily. What is he doing in her room at this time?

"Hey." Phillip said.

"Hey." She replied. He noted that there was an edge of suspicion and reproach in her voice.

"I just want to thank you, for healing me, I mean." Phillip said.

"Ok. You did, now go away." Pakura said dismissively.

But Phillip wasn't ready to dismiss this. "Look, everyone is worried about you."

Pakura made a non-committal noise.

"I heard from the doctors you haven't been sleeping well lately, or eating. Your nightmares have been haunting you." Phillip took out his card key, and shoved it in Pakura's hands. She looked down at it with a frown.

"I just want you to know, if you need me, you can go to my room any time. I just hope Jasmine understands. If she doesn't, I'll break up with her without hesitation, because for now, my priority is to help you recover."

Pakura stayed silent, as she fiddled with the card key. Phillip watched her until she got sleepier, though she tried to fight it, until she lost the battle and gave in to sleep. Phillip grabbed hold of her hand, and hoped she could register the little comfort in her dreams.

* * *

"_And that concludes her tale. Now I would like my price." Shiki said. They were back in Pakura's mind again._

_"Alright, name it." Ash said._

_"I'll take Paku with me now." Shiki announced. "So you will hand her over to me."_

_The group looked at each other, and much to Ash's horror, Rosaline said, "Sounds fair. We'll give her to you then." _

"_Rosaline!" Ash yelled. "What are you doing?" _

"_I agree with Rosaline. She'll be in good hands with Shiki." Jude replied and Phillip nodded. _

_Shiki smiled, but it seems forced. "Well, glad you think so…." And then he charged two huge spheres out of his aura, one in each hand, and then shot it at them. It caught Ash off guard and he had no time to dodge as the attack hit him. There were huge explosions and screaming, and Ash found himself bleeding profusely. The others weren't any better in terms of their conditions. _

"_You stupid fools. That was just a test to see I you are worthy of taking care of my fiancé. And you have failed miserably….so I'm taking her away from your incompetent hands." Shiki sneered, as Pakura materialized beside him, and he carried her bridal style. Ash tried to chase after them, but his injuries are taking the toll of him. The last thing he heard Pakura say was, "I'm glad they're gone. They are nothing but trouble." Before he succumbed to his injuries. _

Ash sat up, screaming. The nightmare got him shivering in fear. What if Shiki really took Pakura away? Tonight, he had told Steven and Wallace about what had happened during the "attack" as the way the assassins attacked them in the room was the same way they had killed her fiancé. He claimed she had some sort of flashback, and panicked, not knowing where she was, which was why she was under watch in the hospital. Thank goodness they bought the story, and they were glad to hear she would be discharged soon, but agreed to let her recover her mental state before she got back to her duties.

Cynthia was sleeping next to him, but luckily, she wasn't awoken by his yell. In fact, she herself seemed to be suffering from a nightmare, judging by the shivering.

Just as he was about to give her a protective hug and go back to sleep, his CommuniDex rang, and he answered. To his surprise, he saw Phillip, and it looked like his injuries all vanished.

"Ash, come quickly. It's Paku. Her nightmares is acting up, but when I tried to wake her for the past few hours, she won't wake up. Please help!" Phillip said.

Ash knew this was an emergency, and scribbled a note to Cynthia, as he might not return y morning. When Ash reached Pakura's room, he quickly ran to Phillip to confirm what he knew at first sight. As surely as the burns, cuts, and bruises were done by Pakura's hand, the healed body of Phillip's were done by her hand as well.

Ash knew he had to help Pakura overcome her nightmares, and his hand glowed as he placed them on her forehead, and he disappeared into her nightmare.

He found himself in a bedroom, it was hard to tell, but Ash knew it was just like Pakura's bedroom in her Plateau except there were two doors. Pakura was sitting at the corner, holding a flashlight. She was whimpering in fear, and there were tears running down her face. The alarm clock showed 3am.

Ash wanted to go over to comfort her, but decided to observe and see the situation first.

She spoke to the two pictures on her bedside. One was of Shiki and another was of himself and the other three Elites. "Tomorrow would be another day."

She listened for footsteps, and opened the left door, and shot some ice shards. Ash peeked out, and much to his horror, he saw a nightmarish version of Jude (he looked normal except for sharper teeth and red eyes), who was about to attack, but retreated once she shot her ice shards. She shined her torchlight down the hall, and up the ceiling, but saw nothing, and sighing with relief, she closed the left door.

She shined on the bed, and Ash gasped as he recognized some of Phillip's robots, but somehow, it looked evil. She waited until the robots retreated under the shine of her flashlight. She searched the room, and saw a nightmarish version of Phillip hiding in her closet, and closed the door on him until he disappeared.

'Talk about monsters in the closet.' Ash thought.

A few minutes later, she heard breathing, and peeked briefly. Ash saw a brief glimpse of Shiki (with red eyes as well) trying to attack, only for Pakura to slam the door in his face. She waited until she heard footsteps, and she checked down the hall, shooting ice shards for good measure.

Pakura had tears running down her face, as she heard the footsteps fade away after a while. She failed to see a nightmarish version of her Champion Ash sneak in her room from behind and attack her with crystal shuriken. Pakura stumbled back, as he grabbed her by the throat. She clawed hopelessly at his hands.

The red-eyed Ash laughed at her attempts. "Do you really think the others and I have forgiven you for attacking us? Even Shiki never forgave you for killing him, did he? That's why we are taking revenge." He was about to stab her, when he was stabbed from behind. Ash had decided to step in. The red-eyed version of himself fell to his knees, checking his wound.

Pakura was dropped to the ground, coughing.

"You alright?" Ash asked, getting to her side.

Pakura simply trembled, looking at the normal Ash with wary in her eyes.

Ash smiled. "It's ok to be afraid. You fear not being accepted back with us after all you did. Don't worry, no matter how much they-" Here, he gestured towards the door, "try to attack and kill you, remember, I will be here. We'll take one door each, yeah?" He took the left, and she took the right.

Ash frowned when he saw a nightmarish version of Phillip, and stabbed his head with his crystal blade. He stabbed him two more times to make sure he doesn't get up.

"Why don't you leave the room, though?" Ash asked.

"Jude might flood the place. And I'm aquaphobic…." Pakura mumbled. "He can also make the hall dark and my flashlight won't be able to penetrate it, and to an extent, I'm scared of the dark too…."

Just then, an alarm clock signalling 6am rang.

"I survived another night." Pakura sighed. "I guess I'll be trapped in this nightmare game again next time I sleep."

With that, both of them woke up.

'At least I know what she had been battling now.' Ash thought. So that was what Akira meant by the "game". It wasn't just nightmares of her past. She was also running and hiding from some of her fears, and Ash is determined to help her combat it.

"Hey, so what happened?" Phillip asked. Cynthia and Jasmine had entered the room as well. Apparently, they had already fed their Pokémon for them. It looked like Cynthia had received the note, for she placed a hand on Ash's shoulder in comfort.

"We'll talk about it with the others later." Ash replied, just as Ai came in, serving her breakfast. She was carrying two trays, one in each hand. The tray on her left hand contained beef casserole with croquettes complete with fruit juice, and the other contained a bowl of hot grain, a cup of milk, and mashed turnips.

"Ai, what is this?" Ash asked.

"Oh, one is for Princess Pakura and another is for Rosaline. I figured I'd let her choose first."

Pakura reached her hands for the breakfast on the right, but Phillip stopped her. "We'll take the left one." and took that tray from Ai.

"What was that for?" Pakura asked.

"You need to eat a better breakfast than that." Ash said.

"Yeah, and Rosaline gets the lesser one." Pakura mumbled.

"She has been eating well. You, on the other hand have not." Cynthia said firmly. "Now eat up, and I mean eat everything."

Pakura grumbled, and began eating her breakfast.

"Could you guys go out for a while?" Ash requested. "I want to talk to Paku about something."

They nodded, and left Ash and Pakura alone.

"Tell me, Paku. What was that all about?" Ash was referring to the dream she had, the game she was playing in her head.

"I'm too lazy to explain." Pakura mumbled. "Espeon, you do it."

Espeon obliged. **"Ever since the beginning of the tournament, whenever Paku really does have sleep, she finds herself in her own room, but with two doors. You guys were prowling the mansion, hunting her down to kill her, and she has to defend her room against all of you. Unfortunately, she only have had powers that were originally hers, not the ones Shiki gave her, and she was only equipped with a flashlight to penetrate the darkness as everything was dark. She only knows that she had to hold out until morning or until she wakes up in the real world. As she played, you became more aggressive and active, as you were out for revenge of what she did to you. But good thing is, she detected a pattern that four of you had and she can defend accordingly."**

"What happens if you die?" Ash asked quietly to Pakura.

"I don't know, but I know it has something to do with me being in here. Losing my mind isn't so bad I guess." Pakura shrugged. "No biggie, I guess." She went on to mumble something about voices she was starting to hear.

Ash had a rough idea of what is going on. Her nightmares would show herself defending against the people she held dear as they try to get in her room to attack. All she had to do was to hold out until morning. If she died in the "game", it would weaken her control over her dreams (that means to say, the more she "dies" in the dream, the more she would lose herself when she wakes up in the real world).

It's most likely she was looking out for the time where they would transform to what she saw in her dreams, and the way she looked at him every time he visits confirms his theory. The beginning of the tournament was when they started to notice things, and this "game" reflected her fear of not having her friends accept her back once they found out what she did. His instincts told him that if all the nightmare versions were killed in one game, it might end the game for good.

'You won't be playing alone next time.' Ash thought. 'All of us will play, and take on the nightmare version of ourselves together, and help you overcome part of your nightmares. I'm sure the others would agree to play, once I talk to them.'

Ash thought he heard fighting in a nearby hospital ward, and decided to go check it out, and told Pakura to stay in her room ("As if I can go anywhere." Pakura muttered), and went out of the room, nodding to the others they can go in if they like, but Cynthia followed him. He was lead to Lance's room, and knew he was watching TV, and went in to find him. He certainly looked better as some of his bandages were gone, his wounds were healing, and his scars were fading.

Beside him was the box of tapes, which Ash recognized as the previous Hunter Exams recording. He recognized the episode where Phillip passed the Exam.

Lance flipped off the tape when he saw Ash. "Oh, hey, Ash, Cynthia."

"What the heck are you watching?" Cynthia shouted in horror.

"Where did you even get these from?" Ash frowned.

"I asked one of the attendants to get them for me from the library. The staff here would do anything to make us as comfortable and entertained as possible, and would cater to our wants as long as it doesn't affect our injury or health." Lance replied. "I wanted those tapes as I want to know roughly what you all are capable of, besides Pokémon battling."

"You have made your decision?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I have decided-I still want to associate myself with you guys. I don't care what the stakes and risks are, I just need to keep my eyes peeled and make decisions that I think are best for me."

"If you say so." Cynthia sighed.

"The only threat is probably our Leader. We'll try to keep her away from you, so you won't uh...get killed." Ash said.

Lance nodded, and they left him to his own devices.

* * *

Of course, after all these stressed out events happening one after another, there is finally time for a date with Cynthia. This time, Ash decided to let his fringe cover his identity. He was wearing casual with a sports coat, waiting for his girlfriend. His Pikachu and Lucario were left with Phillip, as he was the only person able to do so at the moment.

Cynthia met him at the lobby, this time in a casual shirt and jeans, and Ash led her to a car that was parked at the car park near the Tower.

"You know, this is the first time I would be able to get to see your driving skills." Cynthia remarked. She was glad Ash decided to ask her on a date, despite all that was happening.

"Hopefully not the last. Though this is Paku's car, since she travelled more than I did, hence she bought it." Ash held the car open for Cynthia to get in and sit, before getting into the driver's side himself. He then pulled out of the lot, and started driving away. Cynthia looked outside to enjoy the scenery, before asking, "Where are we going?"

"Oh, somewhere special." Ash said vaguely.

Ash took her to Amare City like Pakura suggested once before, and once they parked, and got out, they admired the atmosphere of it. Other than a pink heart-shaped object floating in the sky, it was not as pinkish as they would have expected, and everywhere, couples were holding hands and talking, and going into shops. There was also various couple rides in Amare City, such as the Ferris wheel and the Love Boat.

"Is this the Amare City Shiki was talking about?" Cynthia asked.

Ash nodded. "I figured it'd be a good place for a date today. I never been here myself, actually. Needed to check the PAL map. So what would you like to do today?" He handed her a booklet. "These are the attractions of Amare city."

"I think we should check the shops." Cynthia replied, looking at the booklet.

Ash shrugged, as he followed her to a department store, where she admired the accessories and clothing on sale. She tried on a beautiful necklace that had diamonds on it.

"What do you think?" Cynthia asked for his opinion.

Ash looked over, and said, "Looks great on you. Want to have it?"

Cynthia looked at the price tag, and said, "But, it's…." It was over 500,000 Pokédollars.

Ash gave her a wry smile. "You forgot, we are Hunters. But even if we aren't, we can afford it." He went to the cashiers to purchase the necklace for Cynthia. "Keep it on you, it looks great."

Something occurred to Cynthia. "Oh yeah, speaking of rich, you did check what properties Pakura owned, right?"

Ash said, "Yeah, I checked the other day, she did own apartments in Mauville Hills, Celadon Condominium, Eterna Condominiums, and villas in Unova and Sinnoh. She also had a penthouse in the Plaza Hotel."

"So what does she do with them?" Cynthia asked.

"Rented them out to tenants, with fairly reasonable rent, considering the places she got were expensive to get." Ash replied. "You have to remember that her previous manager gave her as a reward to his associates and allowed people to buy her for an exorbitant amount of money, so it's safe to assume all her clients were rich. Since she took everything from them, she'd own properties too. And what do you do with them to get more money? Rent them out, of course. Since it belonged to someone affluent like her, people are willing to pay a lot of money just to live in that apartment or villa temporarily. Shiki also mentioned that she sold her client's secrets to the paper as well. The thing about Paku is, she would willingly ruin other people just to achieve her objective. I bet half the clients had families, and because of her, they might be without a home at the moment."

Cynthia had to admit that while it was cruel of Pakura, it was even more wrong for her clients to willingly buy her for pleasure when they are committed. "She also said she sold her secrets to the paper." She was looking at a navy blue dress, and taking it, looking for other clothing to try in the dressing room.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I did a research in the library during the time she was sold. True enough, the papers had tales of strange sexual appetites, betrayals of the heart, bottomless greed, bloody power plays, charges of incest, backstabbing, blackmail, arson, secret opinions on their friends and families, things they frame others for, their next plans, their affairs and of course, some secrets relating to her manager."

Cynthia listened, as Ash went on, "And to the good old Benzene Von Karma. How do you think he rose to become their manager, besides what Shiki told us? I'll tell you one word. Poison. Paku had been taking him down slowly, and Benzene was angered when news of his secrets started to come out, and he was slowly losing favour, and his associates eventually only kept him around because he had Paku."

Ash went on to work his way up to the present, pointing out case after case of the mysterious deaths of his adversaries, or worse, his allies, when they pose a threat. People dropping dead during feasts, or slowly, inexplicably declining into shadows over a period of months, which was blamed on bad shellfish, elusive viruses, or an overlooked weakness in the aorta. Ash suspected Benzene tried to poison Pakura to take away her position as Princess and claiming it for himself, but most likely gave up because it didn't work on her.

Cynthia privately admitted those secrets are too delicious not to share.

"Anyway, go ahead and try on the clothing." Ash encouraged. "I'll be waiting right here."

After shopping, Ash asked, "Do you want to get some tea?"

"Yeah, all right. Where?" Cynthia asked.

"Oh, there's a really nice place just up here; haven't you ever been to Romantique Teahouse?" Ash asked, as he led her to the said teashop. When they opened the door, a bell over the door announced their entrance in a tuneful tinkle.

The windows were steamed up and the gaudy tables and chairs were all claimed by couples having a date. The round tables were decorated with lacy napkins and china sugar bowls.

"Cute place." Cynthia commented.

"How can I help you?" A waitress, dressed in a pink maid's outfit, came over to take their order.

"I'd like the Herbal Tea and a slice of blackcurrant cake." Ash said, smiling at Cynthia.

"I'll take the hot chocolate and the strawberry shortcake." Cynthia added, grinning at Ash.

The waitress smiled. "You loving couple remind me of another one that frequented here until five years ago. The Dragon Duo used to come here a lot, you know, but something happened and they vanished. Whatever it is, I hope they are still together."

As the waitress went to get them, Ash said, "I think we just found the café Shiki took Paku to." Sure enough the café did sell chicken pie and croquettes, Pakura's favourite food, though he knew she had fondness for Western food as well.

Their orders came, and they started eating their cake.

"Hmm…this is delicious, and it isn't too sweet either." Cynthia was licking the cream off her fork.

"This blackcurrant cake is sweet, but not too much." Ash complimented. He pierced a piece with his fork, and offered it to Cynthia. "Want to try?" Ash asked. He expected Cynthia to take the fork off his hand to eat it, but she simply opened her mouth, and consumed the piece.

"…" Ash was staring at her, as if to say, "What did you just do?"

Cynthia looked up at Ash, and gave him a sweet smile. "Want to try mine?" She asked, offering him the fork. Ash reached to take it, but she held it out of his reach.

"No, use your mouth." Cynthia smiled. Ash rolled his eyes, and took the bite out of her fork.

"That's better." Cynthia nodded, as they sipped their hot drinks.

After tea, they walked past a shop selling hair accessories.

"I want one of these." Cynthia was indicating to the hair ribbons on sale.

"You don't have to imitate Paku, you know." Ash frowned. He had seen Paku wear hair ribbons every day, and he had to admit, she looked great.

"Well, I think I should go for a new look." Cynthia replied, as she tied her hair in a ponytail with the hair ribbon, which Ash admitted it looked nice on her.

* * *

"_The show has to go on."_

That was what she always told herself, as she prepared for a new day. With popularity comes expectations. As long as she had met them, they will leave her alone. They would never pry, as she secretly plans the resurrection of the Dragon Prince.

And then everything fell apart, because of a simple thing- Rosaline searching her room.

That was why Pakura targeted Rosaline first when she fought the three of them. Made sure that in exchange of her past being revealed, all their deepest, darkest secrets would be made known to her, and nightmares be given to them. That was the condition that she had set. Injuries would be left for her to decide how long they should suffer.

And now here she was, contemplating her fate; she is the only one left of the Dragon Duo and the reputation of it lies solely on her shoulders. She knew it's either one of the two choices: The public doesn't know, and she maintains the reputation of both the PAL Elite and the Dragon Duo, or the public knows, and the name of the Dragon Duo and the PAL Elite would be stained. While she cared little about her PAL Elite status, she couldn't destroy what Shiki had worked for.

And then there was this mission to eliminate Hunter J, a mission that is so dangerous she was excited for it. This was a mission she had always wanted to do.

Pakura was too restless to even stay in bed to think. She paced the floor, heart beating too fast, breathing too short. Her room felt like a prison cell. They were keeping her alive, thinking they may be able to save her. Well, no matter what Ash or the doctor thinks, she's irretrievable, considering how long she was mentally disoriented without being noticed. It was too late for her, she was going crazy; she felt crazy enough...but apparently the others thought otherwise. Her dreams, besides her past haunting her, tell her that they might be out to kill her. Pretend that they are helping her, only to kill her when she was most vulnerable.

Ash's face was unreadable when he saw what her dream was like.

Her Pokémon were all taking a nap, or so she thought.

A brown blur came running towards her, and jumped into her arms, nuzzling her, wagging her tail happily. Pakura dimly noted that it was her Eevee, her latest Pokémon, but yet one of the most attached to her. And very affectionate too. Refusing to go back to her Pokéball so she can stay outside with her, never letting her out of her sight for even one moment, and always hopped in to sleep on her bed (instead of the baskets Pakura laid out for those that are usually outside her Pokéball).

Pakura had given Eevee leeway because she could tell Eevee was just a baby Pokémon- most likely recently hatched from her Egg. But, as of the events that had happened over the past few days, instead of maturing, she still retained her playful demeanour. It's a wonder how her past did not deter Eevee from her. She placed down her Eevee, and decided to go out for a bit, since if she doesn't get air soon, she might start to go on some mental breakdown. She might as well take her Egg with her. Maybe the Egg might like some fresh air too.

Eevee whined at the loss of contact, and jumped into her arms again, wanting to go with her.

Pakura had no choice but to take Eevee with her. Carrying the Egg case in one arm and Eevee in another, and she walked down the hall to the door of the hospital roof. The door was not only unlocked but ajar. Perhaps someone forgot to close it, but it didn't matter. There was an energy field that enclosed this roof preventing any attempts of suicide by jumping off the roof, because PAL doctors usually believe every patient can be saved, just how much time it would take, and they believe suicide is never the answer, and is usually trying to tell their patients that (although mental patients usually are sent to PAL Rehab, which is a mental hospital. She wondered why she wasn't sent there yet, she was sure with her state of mind, she'd be sent there in an instant)

She wasn't looking for an escape….not yet anyway, she just wanted some fresh air. Someone was already in the rooftop, most likely because the doctors let him out for a while. She wondered if she should return to the stuffy cage of a room, or stay with the person. She could always use her newly trained invisibility ability, and he won't be able to see her.

However, the person seemingly sensed that he wasn't alone, and turned to see her, carrying her Eevee.

"Pakura!" Lance said. "It's nice to see you out and about. Hello, Eevee." He waved to her little Evolution Pokémon, who yipped a hello in reply. The Egg sitting in the case reminded him of the time Pakura gave him a Pokémon Egg.

"Didn't know you cared." Pakura said sarcastically, placing Eevee down, who started to run around. She shifted the Egg case in a more comfortable position.

"Of course I do." Lance replied, stung by the implication that he didn't. "Everyone does, if you had bothered to observe carefully."

Pakura laughed, not in the nice way. It sounded more like how an insane person would laugh. "And if you had all observed carefully, I wanted to be with my fiancé, not here."

That made Lance sigh. He wondered what it would take for Pakura to forget about her fiancé and start dating again.

"But what about your Elites? What about Ash? They'd be devastated if you left them here." Lance reasoned.

"They'll be fine. They have each other." Pakura said simply. "They also have family they needs them. No one really needs me here."

Lance gulped. It was true her family didn't need her even when alive. He was sure the others would definitely need a lot of time (maybe, even forever) to get over her death if she should die. As for him, he would be damaged beyond repair.

"Don't you remember what you did for them?" Lance pleaded.

"Oh yeah, I did." Pakura replied. "I must have loved them a lot."

"You did. You have a lot of effect on them." His voice catches, and he coughed.

"And did they love me?" Pakura asked, unconsciously tightening her clutches on the Egg case. Eevee was looking from Lance to Pakura and back again.

"Well…..everyone is trying to keep you alive to save you, you know. I think they looked broken when they watched you being tortured by Team Rocket."

"That's not an answer." Pakura said, as Eevee started gnawing at the hem of her hospital gown. "One thing I can't erase from memories are feelings. Apparently they didn't love me enough to try and not kill me when we fought. They never tried to understand what I even want."

"That's because they would lose you if they give you what you wanted." Lance argued back. "It's not about reputation, you know. Frankly, I think they would all sacrifice their reputation for the sake of unity. You were the one who really brought the four of u together as THE PAL elite. You are essentially the binding force that keeps everyone together. They lose you, they fall." He finally replied.

Pakrura laughed again, coldly, dismissively, as Eevee jumped on her shoulder, and pawed away at her hair. "Of course, they are just like the members of your Clan. Only caring about the reputation of our group. Well, you all are a piece of work, aren't you?"

Lance closed his eyes in defeat. All those times where Pakura thought her friends were wonderful were over. She now saw them as manipulative players. And thought his clan members, including him and Clair (most likely except Shiki), were a piece of work.

He hated himself for it.

* * *

Ash and Cynthia (she insisted on following him) decided to stop by a place called the Free Market that is located in Verto Town, which is also nicknamed the Paradise for Traders, which is not really a market despite its name. It's actually more of a meeting place where people usually do trading whether for Pokémon or other items. It had used to be a warehouse that stored their export which was olive oil, but when it fell into disuse, it was renovated and became a meeting place for trades. Some people also set up food stalls in there in case anyone needs a break.

He saw a woman exchanging her Heal Ball for a Love Ball that was on a young man's hands. And the young man had brown hair and blue eyes…

"Hello, William. Fancy seeing you here." Ash announced. William turned, and smiled calmly as he approached Ash with another person.

Ash had met this person once before; he was the facilitator of the Battle Frontier, and also the Vice-Chairman of the Hunters Association. He was a Temp Hunter, where he had governmental jobs subcontracted to him from the Hunters Association. Depending on the difficulty of the job and risks involved, he was guaranteed a standard fee for a job taken. The Hunters Association receives a plethora of applications depending on the job, and a review board assigns him based upon his skills and aptitude. Ash had heard that some Hunters choose to make this their career and are subsequently ridiculed by professional Hunters for doing so for some weird reason.

"Hello, Mr. Satoshi, or should I say, Mr. Ketchum." William said. Cynthia gasped.

"How did you know?" Ash was surprised.

"I'm not stupid, Mr. Ketchum." William replied. "The case of your disappearance even reached us, and we suddenly see someone rising to the top in a region that you have never travelled before? I put two and two together. Don't worry, I know why you are doing this, and we at the Hunters Association would keep it a secret."

"You mean….he knows too?" He turned to the Vice-Chairman. "Er….what's your name again?"

The Vice-Chairman nodded. "Yup, I do. I am Shuichi Hoshiyama, codename Logia."

'What kind of codename is that?' Ash thought.

"So what are you doing out with the Sinnoh Champion?" William asked.

"We're on our way back from our date, when we figured we stop here." Ash replied.

"Ah, I see. Love is a wonderful thing." Logia said wistfully. "Isn't it, Mr Ketchum?"

"Call me Ash in private. It's embarrassing to be called by my last name." Ash replied, causing Cynthia to shoot him an amused look.

"How are your Elites doing?" William asked, as he got a tin gallon that was boiling over the fireplace, and poured out tea for them to drink, which they accepted politely. "I'm sorry about them. I heard in the news. Princess Pakura was traumatized, isn't she?"

Ash and Cynthia looked at each other, before Ash said, "Oh yeah, hopefully she can recover for the upcoming Top 8. You're not going to commence it until everyone recovers, right?"

Logia nodded. "Yeah, we figured we'd wait for you to give the ok for everyone to battle. It's be disappointing if one of the crowd's favourite participants, Princess Pakura, not being able to compete, even if everyone else but her is ready for the Top 8."

Ash knew what Logia meant. Cynthia had been giving him the local papers to read when he was in hospital visiting his friends. Rankings of how interesting their battles were had showed Pakura's battles among their favourites (along with his).

"Thank you." Cynthia nodded to them.

'I have got to talk to my other Elites about what I found out this morning.' Ash thought. 'Sooner we help her, the better.'

* * *

"Hey, Cynthia!" The Sinnoh Elite members were calling out to her. "We're going to watch a play, and after that we're going to go to the Sports Complex and try to play some of the sports in there, after that we might stop for ice cream. Want to come with us?"

Cynthia shrugged. There was so little opportunity of fun and relaxation left in her life (ever since the mystery thing and all the PAL Elite members in the hospital), she agreed. They were walking towards the auditorium, where the play was going to be held, when they ran into Champion Red.

"Where are you guys going, looking so happy?" Ash asked, and Lucian went, before Cynthia could stop him, "Going to watch a play, then the Sports Complex, we might stop for ice cream later on." The other Sinnoh Elites raised their eyebrows at him, as if to expect him to ask if he could come along, since Cynthia is going, and they suspect they are dating, since Cynthia had been spending a lot of time with him.

Ash just nodded, and said, "Well, have fun, guys." Then he kept walking towards the Tower.

They were all totally flabbergasted (Well, not Cynthia, though.) that Ash didn't ask to come along and join them.

"You shouldn't be surprised. Remember all his Elites (except Phillip, but she didn't mention this) are in hospital, and his work has doubled." Cynthia told them. She doesn't take it personally. Ash couldn't really think about anything but saving Pakura and checking on his Elites' status. She was grateful he had decided to arrange a date at a time like this.

Meanwhile, Ash rushed upstairs to borrow Phillip's laptop, before he rushed to the hospital. He had to help Rosaline finish a report on the case of the missing Dragon Duo, which was of course, solved. He would write it, while Rosaline dictates. He walked past Grimsley, and they nodded to each other, and Ash entered her room. He sat next to an awake Rosaline, and opened the laptop.

"Alright, start dictating." Ash said. As Rosaline dictated her report and Ash typed it out, they kept a running conversation. From this conversation, Rosaline learnt that Pakura had been playing a "game" in her head which she had to defend herself for an unknown amount of time from nightmare versions of themselves and Shiki. If she was killed in the "game" she loses more of her sanity because she really believed that all of them were out to get her.

"Not only this fuels the hate she might have for us, it also increased her fear that we might be out to get her when her guard is down by pretending to help her. At least, that is what I think." Ash said, as he corrected a typo error.

"I think all of us should go in that dream and destroy those nightmare versions." Rosaline replied. "The fearful girl you see in the dream may be her hidden self."

"Well, you're the psychic here." Ash shrugged.

"Ever since that memory block was removed, I regained the strength I had during training with Paku." Rosaline stated. "As for my telekinesis…." She levitated the fruit basket full of fruits to her. She selected an apple, and munched on it. "I don't even have to use my hands to levitate things up to a certain mass. Although I remember Paku can lift up to 12 people at a time without using her hands to channel it when we trained together all those years ago."

"It's been years. Her telekinesis is most likely even stronger than you remember. Besides, she never blew off training even when we entered the tournament." Ash muttered, taking a banana from her basket and starting to eat it.

"That's true." Rosaline nodded. A small part of the reason why the three lost to Pakura was because they blew off training for their social lives, which eventually lead to their downfall.

"Ash, have you seen my…oh, there it is." Phillip sighed, as he came in with his and Ash's Pokémon. He was on his way back from giving Pakura her new CommuniDex, when he decided to stop by the room Ash was in and ask him about the laptop.

"Sorry, I needed it to write a report for Rosaline. She dictate, and I write." Ash replied sheepishly. "I would take Paku's laptop, but I didn't want to anger her further if she finds out, and you know she's psychic, she would find things out immediately."

"It's fine." Phillip waved him off.

"Hey, Phillip! Did you know that Ash was talking about the nightmares that Paku had?" Rosaline said, sounding worried and excited. She went on to talk about what Ash had told her earlier, and Phillip's face changed from puzzled to one of horror.

"Ash, we've got to…." Phillip started, but Ash cut him off. "Yes, I know, we got to eliminate them, and I was about to talk to you about it and whether you agree to play."

"You didn't have to ask." Phillip replied.

"Great. So three are in. Now, we'll ask Jude." Ash said. "If all four are in, I can get you into this 'game' by a psychic mind link I'll create. That way, even if you're confined to the bed, you can get in her dreams."

"I'll ask him for you." Phillip offered.

"Sure, that'd be great. Thanks." Ash nodded, as Phillip left for Jude's room.

Phillip entered, only to see a bored Jude listening to some story Karen was telling him in an attempt to entertain him.

"I hate to interrupt…" Phillip was coughing. "But Jude, I'd like to tell you something."

"What?" It was clear Jude did not want to listen.

"It's about Paku." Phillip said, and Jude turned his head sharply, suddenly interested. Karen frowned at this.

"What is it?" Jude asked. Phillip knew that it'd be impolite to ask Karen to leave, so he mouthed the words to Jude. Although Jude isn't as good as Pakura in lip-reading, he knew what Phillip was talking about.

"Of course I would play. I'll save Paku." Jude declared. Karen frowned. How come he was determined to save that female Elite Leader while he wouldn't give other girls the time of day?

"Alright! That means all of us are in!" Phillip nodded.

"What's going on?" Karen asked, looking from Jude to Phillip.

Jude was somewhat ticked off. Does she really have to know? "Ask Phillip." He snapped, and threw the blanket over his head.

Phillip looked at a hurt Karen sheepishly. "Er….I think it's better if we talk outside."

"Why is Jude being so cold to me?" Karen asked. "I was nothing but nice to him, I swear."

Phillip nodded. "I know, but Jude himself had a bad experience. You see…." He proceeded to tell Karen the story.

"So, as you can see, this horrible experience made him think…you know…." Phillip mumbled.

"I see….well, thanks for telling me." Karen nodded, as she left, thinking of how she should help Jude.

* * *

Meanwhile, Cilan and Trip entered a room to visit Max, May, Brock and Iris (they were assigned in the same hospital ward, and had to share a big room with other patients because they were staying in Class C wards), and it looked like they were awake, only they were looking down at their meal in contempt. Since they had slight hypothermia, they were given a bowl of clear broth, a small serving of applesauce, and a glass of water in an attempt to warm them up.

"Hey, I bring some news." Cilan said.

"What is it?" Max asked, as he started in on his broth.

"It looks like the PAL Elites except for the Champion somehow landed themselves in hospital." Trip said.

"What happened?" May was now interested.

"Apparently, some assassin attacked them, and it left all of them heavily injured, except for the Leader, who wasn't there and was traumatized, so she was sent here too. We watched the news earlier, thought you should know." Cilan answered.

"So, they are vulnerable now?" Brock asked. "We might be able to demand answers as to who Red is from one of them."

"Oh, yeah, Iris, this might interest you. The news tonight also closed the case on the Dragon Duo, declaring it solved. Apparently, Rosaline located them, and gave a report, but it was confidential."

"I might get my answers as to where the Dragon Duo is from them. I have always wanted to battle the members of the Dragon Duo." Iris' eyes shone.

"Perhaps." Trip said. "We should ask one of them."

"Only we don't know any of the wards they are in." Cilan reminded him.

"Guess we'll have to explore a bit." Trip said.

"Oh, tell us when you are done!" Max reminded them.

They nodded, and proceeded to explore the hospital, looking into the windows to try and find which ward the Elites were living in. Luck was on their side when there was an Espeon walking down levitating a plate of croquettes down the hall, and they felt that it was Rosaline's Espeon. They followed the Espeon and sure enough, she was entering a room they were sure was Rosaline's. They were about to enter, when another Espeon intercepted them, snarling at them. This Espeon held them up using Psychic, and of course, used Swift on them, causing them pain, before knocking them out with Iron Tail.

Pakura erased their memories, and decided to teleport them back to their Pokémon Center rooms. She returned Espeon to her Pokéball, promising to let him out after she gets back to her room, while entering the room with her Sylveon (she also returned the other two to their Pokéballs for a while)

Meanwhile, Rosaline woke up at the sound of someone collapsing. "What was that?" She asked her Espeon. She tried to sit up, but all she managed was a moan, and fell back down on her bed. The white curtain that was around her bed whipped back, and Pakura stared down at her. At first she felt threatened, because she attacked her in her room, and even landed many heavy injuries on her.

She then reminded herself that Pakura attacked only because her love turned to hate, and she was only trying to protect them, and she wasn't in the right state of mind, not even now. But still, that didn't mean she doesn't despise her, especially since she went into her room and explored it.

"At least I'm alive." Rosaline mumbled.

"No kidding, brainless." Pakura said, as she walked over, and plunked down on the bed, sending pain shooting all over her body. Pakura smirked somewhat at her discomfort. She wasn't here to check on Rosaline's status, she only came to her room for the croquettes after all. Espeon had smelt them and told her, and she decided to make a detour to her room for them.

With an expert hand, she snagged the plate of croquettes from the bedside table, and began eating them. "Afraid my addiction to alcohol and antidepressants would be replaced by croquettes. I'll just take them from you and Jude when the coast is clear. Didn't think you both would mind."

'Mind? How can we when we saw how much hardship you had to go through and the sacrifices you made for us? I have no right to mind.' Rosaline thought.

Pakura nodded in approval as she swallowed the croquette. "Maybe I was onto something when I got those addictions. Drugging myself out and going on with my busy life. Not such a bad life. I seemed happier than right now, anyway."

Rosaline had to admit that making Pakura eat three meals a day was a good thing. She was looking healthier than ever before, and her stomach doesn't look permanently sucked in.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Rosaline asked.

"Why, indeed?" Pakura mused. "Jealousy you had a family and an alive love interest is part of it. And yet you never treasured it, took it as if you deserved everything you had, which annoyed me even more. Frankly, had you not followed me in my journeys, you would never know about this region, and apply to be the last member. And you may describe yourself as a sincere person to everybody, but honestly? I don't think you are, no decent psychic shows their genuine feelings to everybody, which is something you should know if you're a true psychic. Your cheerful personality is also unbearable. Please feel free to take this personally."

"No wonder you are the Leader of the Elite. No one had to feed you lines." Rosaline mumbled.

"True. But no one likes me."

"Sure we do." Rosaline said.

"Only because your memories were restored. Keep telling yourself you like me, and you'll soon grow to hate me." Pakura turned in time to see Ash and Phillip carrying her trunk, and left Rosaline's room, and went back to her hospital room.

"I thought we should bring this to cheer you up, you know, and maybe you can add the music box back in. Paku, could you open this trunk for us?" Phillip requested.

Pakura shrugged, as she placed her palm on one side of the lock, and it clicked watched impassively (while holding onto her Egg case) as Ash and Phillip started exploring the contents of her trunk that contained her treasured items in the hospital room. Phillip was looking at the original pictures of them, while Ash was looking at the various birthday gifts she had received from Shiki, and there was one that had caught his interest.

A beautiful handmade gift box, where when the lid was removed, the four sides fell flat, and each of them containing pictures of them, and various love notes, and some interactive stuff. There were three layers of each side of the box, each containing something unique.

"This is beautiful." Ash gasped to Pakura, who merely nodded, as she watched him play with the interactive stuff in the present. Phillip, meanwhile, was looking at the pictures of them hanging out together, and most likely remembering those times.

Ash found a large sketchbook bound in black leather, and opened it, only to admire the beautiful sketches of dresses that was designed on each page, with perfect colours as well. It ranged from Casual to Formal, Spring to Winter. At the very last page, it was a very pretty wedding gown any girl would kill to wear.

"Who designed all these?" Ash asked, flipping through the sketchbook. It was definitely a work of art.

By the look on Pakura's face, Ash was surprised. "You designed them Paku?"

When Pakura didn't deny it, Phillip said, "You really have a talent for designing, sketching so many different dresses for various occasions."

Pakura frowned. She had designed them during her early days with Shiki. She had worked on each design for at least a whole day. It was a kind of therapy for her after the torture from Team Rocket. She designed under Shiki's watch, in case she loses her mind and thinks she was back in their base again. She hadn't done it ever since she started dating Shiki (which helped lessen her panic attacks) and the lone sketchbook continued all the designs she had made. It's most likely she had lost her talent for it, but whatever.

"Don't you want to see these creations come to life?" Ash asked, flipping through the sketchbook, as they admired the designs.

"I wonder what this does." Phillip muttered, looking at a gun he had taken from the chest. Pakura silently took the gun from Phillip, and shot him. As she shot, there was a sound that sounded suspiciously like "Idiot!" and discharged what looked like a fist shooting out to hit Phillip on the head. Phillip winced in pain as he clutched to his head.

"Ouch….this Idiot Gun sure packs a punch…." Phillip mumbled.

"I guess this gun discharges punches similar to an air gun." Ash said, taking the gun. "Did Shiki make it?"

"Made from scrap material." Pakura mumbled.

"Can I borrow them?" Phillip was holding Pakura's Laser Gun that she used to fight them and the Idiot Gun. He would like to study these weapons and possibly replicate them.

Pakura shrugged, as if to tell them to do what they want, just as the door opened, and Ai came with her dinner. Phillip and Ash decided to leave her to eat in peace for now, but they would return again after dinner. Ash decided to sneak the sketchbook out.

They entered the twelfth floor to see all of them (Grimsley, Jasmine, and Cynthia) were eating dinner together (their Pokémon included), this time joined by Lance, who brought news of his conversation with Pakura. The dinner was delicious, yes, but they hardly had an appetite lately. In fact, forget about sleeping well either, because the nightmares they had was overwhelming. But If Pakura can pull this off while still looking healthy, they can too.

"You saw her?" Cynthia was asking Lance, who was just released from the hospital since his wounds are all healed. Now only that, but those accumulated over years of G-men missions have vanished without a trace. His skin was perfection, smooth and glowing.

Ash and Phillip took seats next to Cynthia and Jasmine, and began eating, wondering what they were talking about.

"Oh yeah. She was out and about in the rooftop. Doesn't seem very happy you kept her alive. Even compared us to the members in my Clan." Lance frowned. "What did the doctor say about her mental state?"

"He said she's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression and it's going to be extremely difficult to save her." Ash replied, piercing a slice of beef, and popping it into his mouth. "Advises us to watch her carefully as well, in case she tried something else. He agreed to release her soon in the condition that we would care for her. We'll have to do it the hard way, I'm not handing her over to her fiancé."

"Me neither. It was an honour to have her as my best friend. She is a courageous young woman. I know how disorienting this must be for her. And I can't imagine what it's like to live through the atrocities of the people who made her life hell." Phillip said. "I want her to know that we're more than happy to help her. I hope she'll find some comfort with us- all of us."

"How are the others?" Jasmine asked Ash.

"Their wounds are healing, but their injuries are way heavier than Lance's and it would take at least two weeks for them to fully heal, even with our advanced equipment." Ash replied. "The tournament won't be happening for a while, I guess."

"Unless Pakura somehow heals them up." Grimsley mumbled.

"I think it's better for her to heal them of her own decision. The last few days, when we talked to her about it, she simply closed herself off. You've seen it." Ash said quietly. "The thing about her is, she acts on her own, and makes her own decisions. Almost no one can stop her because she is the PAL's Princess. Because she was really capable in the roles given to her, even I let her do whatever she wants."

"We all know she has been this way for years, Ash." Cynthia sighed. "How is your former relationship going to override the relationship she had with Shiki?"

Phillip thought back on the game Ash said she was playing in her head. "Oh don't worry, I'm sure everything would work out." Jasmine stared at Phillip. She had never really heard him being optimistic before.

"Speaking of which, you all might like to see this." Ash announced, revealing a sketchbook he had taken from Pakura's trunk. He used telekinesis to levitate it and flip the pages.

"Wow, they're beautiful!" Cynthia gasped, seeing the contents of the sketchbook. "That's a dress I would wear any day!" Jasmine nodded in agreement, wondering where she could get a dress like that.

"Who designed them?" Lance asked, awed at the beauty of the design.

"Paku did." Phillip replied proudly.

"I didn't know she had a talent for designing clothes." Grimsley mused.

"Neither do we." Phillip said. "I say it was a hobby, rather than a passion for it. Probably got bored of it and stopped at one point. The sketchbook is rather old after all."

"We were thinking of bringing them to life you know. Have someone really make these dresses for the girls to wear." Ash added. "These are just too pretty not to share."

"That's a great idea." Cynthia smiled, imagining herself in one of those dresses.

Lance had to admit Pakura was an extremely beautiful, talented and powerful Princess. It looked like winning her over would be immensely difficult, especially her mind isn't too stable at the moment, but he had to try, for his childhood friend, and for her.

* * *

Ash and Phillip entered Pakura's room that night, and as he predicted, she was asleep. However, she was unconsciously biting her lip, which Ash took it to mean it was another bad cream.

'Alright, everyone ready?' Ash created a mind link between Jude, Rosaline, Phillip and him.

'Ready as I can ever be.' Rosaline telepathically replied.

'I was born ready.' Jude told him.

Phillip, who was next to him, merely nodded.

"Ok, here goes." Ash whispered, as his hand glowed, touching Pakura's forehead, ready to enter her dream, and save her.

**BP: I know this may be a bad, but let me explain. **

**Ok, let me clarify something first: A lot of you may think the chapters were written together by mysterypink98 and me, but this was how it actually goes: mysterypink98 gives me ideas for scenes I can write for future chapters (but unfortunately, when I write it out, it doesn't even hit a thousand words, so that's why I ran out of ideas to fill my word quota, and had to think up some scenes myself). I wrote all these chapters by myself. **

**You see, I had more inspiration for Season 1, and I knew what scenes I had to write. But after writing that super long chapter that ended Season 1, I had no idea what I wanted to write for Season 2 that would fill the average word quota for each chapter (Chapter 14 was an exception because I miscalculated the length of the memories scene big time and it ended up taking many more words than I thought.) **

**The very long chapter was a big mistake on my part. I thought one chapter was enough, but ended up realizing I actually needed two, but I didn't want to disappoint my readers, so I doubled the length of that chapter.**

**But for Season 2, it was difficult to write one whole day in detail (unlike Season 1) because I had no idea what to write since most are in hospital, which is why the time skip between chapter 14 and chapter 15 is at least a few days to one week. Top 8 would have to be postponed as more than half the participants were incapacitated, so obviously I can't write any official matches to fill up my word quota.**

**Like I said, the Zodiac members aren't OC, they are highly based on characters from the Gransazers, and the Vice Chairman Logia is also from Gransazer. Only William was based on my OC from my (lame) first story. **

**I don't know how I should format my stories for Season 2, but I'll try my best to make the plot interesting and relevant to the story (however, note that some scenes may have nothing to do with Pokémon because all the PAL Elites know how to fight in the literal sense) **

**Paul and Gary would appear in the next chapter, I promise, but whether Ash tells them about Pakura's past remains to be seen. **

**Please review! **


	16. It's a big step, and a good start

**BP: I can't believe it's so long since I touched this story. I know, but ever since I started on Season 2, I sort of concentrated on the AV where the main pairing was RoyalShipping which is also a much darker version of this fic. I admit, it's difficult to write a long chapter of a Pokémon Fanfiction Story such as this, and writing the battles like how it goes in the anime as opposed to writing the battles like how it goes in the games (Honestly, if I did write it like in the games, there would be so many OHKO and the readers would get bored). I have been very busy lately, and yes, the AV and PAL Academy would have slower updates as well. **

**I recently had an idea and instead of writing just two stories, I decided to revolve my Pokémon story ideas which would take place in my fanmade region, PAL. I call this the PAL Fanfiction Project, and to promote my stories, characters and information on this region, I created the PAL Series Wikia. Feel free to add new pages or edit the current pages I have created so far. **

**Also, good news for my readers, I have created a Deviantart account! For those readers who are interested what I would post there, I would be posting pictures of the PAL Elite Four and promotional posters for my upcoming stories (created with Rinmaru Games and Photoshop. Unfortunately, I cannot draw, and neither can I request a commission). My username is cutethings97. **

**Oh, please note that mysterypink98 has started her tertiary education, which means I am essentially on my own from now on, so if readers have any questions, they are to direct it to me, and I would answer them to the best I can in my Deviantart account. In fact, I have not contacted her for a few weeks already (she didn't reply to the email I sent her, so I assumed she is too busy or she doesn't want to talk to me for some reason). Please do not disturb her for answers, as for one she will be even busier than I am, and I actually can answer the questions better (for I am the one who came up with the original concept) **

**So since last chapter, the PAL Elites and Ash are in Pakura's mind helping her to rid her of the monsters in her head once and for all, the first half is dedicated to helping her fight their counterparts and Nightmare Shiki, so technically this chapter is focused on Pakura as well. **

"Where are we?" Phillip asked, looking around in the dark room.

"It looks like we are in a bedroom. By the decorations, I'll bet it's Pakura's room." Jude replied, looking at the pictures of Shiki and Pakura that was hung on the wall. Due to his Night Vision ability, it allows him to see in darkness, and even the deepest darkest recesses can be seen as if it was day time.

Meanwhile, Rosaline had a fireball in her hand to help illuminate the room. And true enough, they were in a bedroom. The bedroom was a relatively large room. The walls consisted some blue design, and on the walls featured portraits. A closer look revealed that the portraits featured Shiki and Pakura. Strangely enough, there were two doors on either side of the room. There was a huge closet as well, which was presumed to keep Pakura's large collection of clothing. There was also a desk, a swivel chair and a lamp where Pakura may have done her paperwork.

There were two dressers in the room as well, where she presumably kept her other possessions, and a treasure chest they had seen before at the foot of her bed. One of the dressers contained the two pictures that Ash saw the other day. There was also an elegant dressing table and a cushion stool at the side of the room.

Lining up some shelves were Pakura's massive collection of Usuki Dolls in their various standard outfits along with other Usuki Dress-Up Sets and their Dream Play Sets. To complete the collection, there was a Usuki Play Mansion that Phillip realized he had made for her for her birthday all those years ago, along with mini furniture that she had meticulously arranged carefully and he remembered he even installed real lights with switches in it. It was apparent she had treasured the playhouse very much, as it was placed in the very middle of her collection.

"I didn't take her to be a fan of dolls." Jude remarked, looking at the Usuki collection on display.

"Usuki dolls are one of the most popular toys for the girls in the PAL Region, though it is known that male children also play with it." Ash replied. "Shiki must've gotten her a doll for her birthday or something, and she became a fan of it ever since. Some of them are slightly worn out, indicating it had been with her for years already."

Phillip was staring at the Dream Mansion in silence, realizing how much she had loved them, and a painful feeling in his heart made itself known when he realized that they were unable to save her in her time of need.

'No more.' he thought. 'She protected us, and now it's our turn to protect her.'

Rosaline took a closer look at the paintings in the room. The first one was Pakura's appearance after she was rescued, carrying an Eevee, which was most likely her present Sylveon. Pakura was wearing a blank expression, but yet she looked sad. Behind her was giant silhouettes about to attack her, which Rosaline assumed it was supposed to be Team Rocket, the ones who made her childhood life hell.

A second painting consisted of a younger Pakura with a miserable expression on her face, and she was reaching out for a knife that a ghostly Shiki was holding out to her. In that painting, Shiki was saying that he could put her back together.

A third was another younger Pakura sitting and leaning against a wall, eyes closed, tears streamed down her face. Around her was the first few Pokémon she had ever caught, such as Goomy and Dratini, and in her arms was her Sylveon as an Eevee, who had a sad smile on her face.

"Oh my…" Jude had joined her in looking at the portraits. "All these paintings, it gives out a dark aura, and yet it shows how much she is suffering on the inside…"

"Well, we are in her head." Ash finally spoke up. "Usually, one is unable to hide what he is feeling on the inside from those who infiltrates their subconscious. I believe the painting is reflecting her feelings at the moment."

"But my question is, why would there be two doors?" Phillip was looking at the two doors in puzzlement. "I remember back at the Plateau, we only have one door in our rooms."

"You'll see soon enough." Ash said grimly. "And you'll also see why the doors are ajar."

Just then, they heard a door creak open, and they turned to see Pakura peeking outside one of the doors. The three wanted to go over to her, but Ash stopped them, saying to stay and watch how things unfold.

Meanwhile, Pakura realized that Nightmare Jude had darkened the corridors, leaving her unable to see who would be approaching her room. Her safety zone.

"Shit!" Pakura cussed, as she pressed her ears for breathing noises. "Tomorrow is another day." She sighed in relief as she heard no breathing, and she flashed her torchlight down the corridor to try and fend of whoever was approaching. That also meant she had to check the other side of the door, the closet, and even the bed to make sure none of her "friends" get to her before she wakes up. She tried to close the door, but for some reason, it sprang back open, leaving her to sigh in exasperation.

Pakura seemed to hear something, as she quickly shined her torchlight to the bed, and Phillip let out a gasp as he saw two of his robots he had built in the early days of being an Elite member on the bed. It looked exactly like his robots except they looked evil with glowing red eyes and even fangs at the side of their mouths.

"Thanks Arceus." Pakura mumbled, obviously too absorbed in defending her room to even notice her friends with her. "If one more appeared, Nightmare Phillip would have attacked me, and it'll be over."

"Nightmare Phillip?" Phillip pointed to himself, looking incredulous.

"That is what she calls all of us that are hunting her down." Ash explained. "I am ready to bet that there are five of us roaming the halls trying to infiltrate her room and attack her."

"Five?" Jude echoed. "There are four of us here."

"The fifth one is Nightmare Shiki. I bet my crown that he is the most dangerous among all of us." Ash grimaced, as he watched Pakura slam the closet on Nightmare Shiki who was about to attack, and held the closet door closed until he goes back through the phrases into a Garchomp plushie, allowing her to get back to the side doors.

Pakura ran to the left door to listen for breathing, and opened the door once more to shine her flashlight in the hallway, before closing it, and backed away towards the right.

Unknown to her, Nightmare Jude had snuck in from the other door, and was about to impale her from behind with his trident. That lead the real Jude to narrow his eyes, and before anyone could react, he sprang forward, and socked Nightmare Jude with an aura infused punch, causing him to retreat out of the room.

"Fuck off, you monster, that's my sister!" Jude snarled, holding Pakura in a hug. He looked down at Pakura, and instead of seeing the strong Leader he always knew, he saw a trembling little girl, similar to how she was after she was rescued from Team Rocket's clutches. She wasn't the Elite Leader or the Princess anymore, she was someone who needed to be looked after.

"Are you alright?" Jude asked softly. Pakura looked up at him, as if to ask what he was doing here. She felt a hand pat her head, and looked up to see Phillip smiling down at her.

"We're not here to hurt you." Phillip whispered, and proceeded to ruffle her hair like how he did when they were still best friends. "We're here to eliminate them once and for all."

"They're you." Pakura said accusingly.

"No, they are not." Rosaline interjected. "They are…." She hesitated, as she did not want to sound like Pakura is mentally unsound by telling her that it is all in her head.

"What Rosaline is trying to say is, those nightmarish versions of us represent what you fear. You fear that we are not going to forgive you for all that you did." Ash said gently.

"I….I…" Pakura seemed to be at a loss of words.

"And what is more, you fear that Shiki blamed you for his death." Ash went on. "He never blamed you."

"How would you know?" Pakura was sceptical.

Ash gave a soft smile. "Remember we met him while we were getting our answers to your story? He told us that he never blamed you, and he went after you by choice."

"It doesn't change the fact that if I hadn't gone, he wouldn't have…." Pakura trailed off, as apparently the memory is too painful for her. But she could've been cut off as well, as at that moment, Phillip lunged forward, and slammed the door on a girl approaching the room. Ash assumed that the girl was Nightmare Rosaline, as this is supported by the fact that she was the only girl in the Elite besides Pakura, and there wasn't any Nightmare Pakura wandering the halls.

"That's it. We are splitting up, and eliminating them once and for all." Ash said in a "That is final" tone.

"Wait! They're dangerous!" Pakura warned.

"You are not the only PAL Elite member here." Jude said firmly.

"We have sworn to keep the region alive." Phillip went on.

"For that, we will also protect one of our own." Rosaline continued.

"Because if we lose one, the Elite falls apart. Especially you." Ash finally concluded.

"….You guys…" Pakura muttered.

"Remember, Paku, no one can escape their past. The sins we've committed and the sadness we've caused…No matter how far we run, our past would always remain in the shadows. It looms in wait for the day when we are forced to face it." Ash said, as behind him, Rosaline slamming the right door on Nightmare Ash. She gestured to Phillip to help her in defending the room, and he obliged.

Ash forced Pakura to look at him, as her eyes were looking towards the nightmare version of him. "We are here to help you face them, and hopefully you'll find peace, because only in doing so can we move on in hope towards a better future."

Pakura sighed. "Alright…."

"Just a curious question, how come you are unable to take down the three of us." Jude gestured to Rosaline, Phillip and himself. "When you defeated us badly when we got in your room?"

Pakura gave him a long, hard look before she answered. "Because in here, I only have my abilities left. I cannot access the ones that was originally Shiki's."

Ash gasped. He remembered Shiki mentioning that Pakura only had Ice Manipulation as her offensive ability. The rest were either defensive or supportive. Without Shiki's powers, she was almost as good as vulnerable.

"Ok, that's it. We are ending this once and for all." Ash declared. "We are going to get out of this room, and hunt them down." The other three nodded, while Pakura looked uneasy.

"One of us would have to stay with her." Rosaline gestured to Pakura. "It looks to me we have to protect her now."

"I'll do it." Jude volunteered. The other three nodded, and left the room to hunt down their Nightmare counterparts. Pakura watched as the other three exited by the two doors, her brow creased in worry.

"Don't worry. Big bother Jude is here." Jude said soothingly, hugging her, while keeping an eye out for his counterpart. One of the ones that were haunting her. The thought of him still prowling the corridors tormenting her led Jude to narrow his eyes in anger. He would kill his counterpart if it was the last thing he did!

* * *

The three of them ran down the corridors, looking for their Nightmare counterparts, with Rosaline's fire as a source of light. The mansion design was as they had remembered, and wondered how Pakura could even remember the smallest detail, like the vase's painted gold dots and their position, or even the stain in the ceiling they had decided to fix after they returned from their tournament.

"Well, this goes to show, despite being inferior to Phillip in terms of intellect, she is actually a very smart girl." Ash muttered.

"I've always thought of her as a genius." Phillip nodded. "She's even a genius in aura!"

"Hey, what about me?" Rosaline protested.

"No offense, Rosaline, but I think Shiki may be wrong. You were born with psychic powers, not aura. My theory is that you mixed aura with psychic powers, which was why they assumed you had an ability already." Ash deduced. He had been thinking about it, and that was the logical conclusion. "A genius means that you can develop an aura ability without any formal training, like me and Paku."

Phillip nodded. "I have to agree with Ash. No offense, Rosaline, but even if you are born with abilities, you still have to train them. Remember how you lost to Pakura in that psychic duel? And Pakura is not born a psychic."

"Fine, I was too overconfident." Rosaline shook her head. "I admit, I did think I could melt her ice with a gentle flame, but it turned out she can freeze my abilities."

"You'll have to step up your game if you want to stay as the Psychic specialist." Ash said grimly. "Not that we don't want you to continue as a PAL Elite member or anything, but if Pakura decides to change her specialty to Psychic, I am afraid I'll have to give it to her, as she is a much stronger psychic than you are. And without two type specialties, you're out, according to the Rule Book."

Rosaline nodded. She had expected this when she found out Pakura was a former Psychic specialist, and a member of the Dragon Duo.

Phillip suddenly narrowed his eyes, and threw a knife at the ceiling. While it was true that he isn't as good as Ash, let alone Pakura when it comes to throwing knives, he had spent a fair amount of time doing that as well before he blew off his training. After all, at that time, he thought it's a good idea to throw a knife to make sure a target was dead if he was a fair distance away when the target was taken down.

"Good job on detecting me." A figure jumped down, and he was illuminated by the fire light, a smirk on his face. Apart from somewhat sharp fangs at the corner and glowing red eyes, he was very much like Ash in appearance and stature. He was wearing all black: black sweater and tight jeans, along with a circlet on his head. He was also casually twirling a sword on his right hand.

"Nightmare Ash." The three said in unison.

"Very astute." Nightmare Ash clapped sarcastically. "As you can see, I like to jump from high places. It's not much, but it scares that little girl in the room very much." He laughed, but not in the nice way. It's more like the evil laugh a mad scientist or a criminal might make, before shooting crystal shuriken at them, which they ducked to avoid. The shuriken hit the wall behind them.

"Whoa. They are buried really deep." Phillip commented.

'It looks like these counterparts all have our abilities. It can be bad for the other two, considering they blew off training…' Ash thought. "Phillip, Rosaline, you two go on ahead. I'm going to take him on."

The other two nodded, only for Nightmare Ash to use telekinesis to break the ceiling and allow the debris to fall on them. Ash countered by using his own telekinesis to prevent them from falling on the other two, and with a nod, the other two disappeared out of sight.

Ash turned to his counterpart, and said, "I'll face you."

Nightmare Ash laughed. "Why do you fight so hard for that Elite Leader? They only need you, they don't need her."

"That's where you're wrong." Ash countered, as he created a sword out of crystal. "I can never ask for a better Elite Leader and Princess than her." With that, he teleported behind his counterpart, and raised his sword, ready to strike.

* * *

Somewhere outside of Pakura's mind, a certain Johto Champion had decided to write back his aunt who was living in Goldenrod City, and attach tournament tickets he had acquired from Ash (he had given him a stack, claiming he didn't want those anymore) for her and his uncle to come and watch the match. Earlier, he had received an envelope from Tenma saying that this aunt had written back to him. Lance had almost forgot he had written a letter to his aunt a few days ago, telling her some updates about the tournament and how he was doing so far, as well as his love for the mysterious Dragon Princess.

His aunt was happy at the fact that he was still in the running for the winner's title, though Lance knew that is as far as he goes. His next match was against Pakura, and she is a skilled Dragon Slayer, defeating both Drayden and his cousin without a sweat. What is more, she is one of the strongest members among the PAL Elite, and Lance barely won against Jude, and rank wise, he is one of the weakest. So what chance does he have really against Pakura?

And then the fact was revealed that Pakura was the Dragon Princess, and Lance's dread grew as she was the one that taught him her tricks and secrets, which meant he can't use them against her. What is more, she also her Psychic mastery which meant she could read and predict a fellow Dragon user's every move, which was most likely the reason why the Dragon Duo took up Psychic mastery. So even if Pakura suddenly decided to use Dragon-types against her, it is highly unlikely he would win.

Lance looked at the letter again. His aunt was joking that it was about time he fell in love and get married, and asked for more details about the girl he had fallen in love with. Lance hesitated at this. What would his aunt say when she realizes that the girl he had genuinely loved had killed his Clan in cold blood? He shook his head, deciding to try and write the letter without giving too many details. This was also the reason why he did not tell Clair why he had decided to give up on the investigation. Looking back, Lance thought he had been too blunt. Pakura must be rubbing off on him.

"_Wait, what?" Clair shouted, as Lance stood in her hospital room, looking at her impassively._

"_Like I said, Clair, I decided to give up on the investigation on who killed our Clan." Lance repeated, resisting the urge to run a hand over his hair in exasperation. _

"_You can't do that!" Clair widened her eyes. "We need to bring the criminal to justice!" _

'_Clair, the person who did it was no criminal.' Lance thought. 'She was angry. Angry at us, at not taking care of her better. Angry at us, for ruining her childhood and life. We did this to her. We deserved it.' He wanted to say all these to her, but it was supposed to be a secret, so he simply said, "Clair, I was going nowhere in the investigation. It's true, I suspect the PAL Hunters may have classified information on this case, but even my privileges as a Champion is limited in here."_

"_Can't you ask one of the PAL Elite members?" Clair pleaded._

"_To be frank, I hate the Leader, and you all know it." He inwardly winced as he said this. "And they are her friends. Ergo, they are my enemies too."_

"_I can't believe you, Lance. You've changed ever since we stepped in this region." Clair remarked, narrowing her eyes. _

'_I know I've changed. Just not the way you think.' Lance thought, as he tossed a stack of tickets to his cousin, who caught it. _

"_Here. I got the tickets you wanted." Lance said curtly, as he left the hospital room. _

As he wrote the letter making sure not to reveal what he had found out, he marvelled how it was ironic that the only Elite member who never won a Trainer's Tournament, was revealed to not only won one, but it was also a Quarter Anniversary, which made her victory all the more impressive.

Lance paused, before deciding to write another letter to ask his parents, who were living back in Blackthorn City, if he should give up his leadership in the Dragon Clan, as he felt that he could not lead them anymore after he had witnessed first-hand on what they had done.

* * *

"That Nightmare counterpart had Ash's Crystal Manipulation." Phillip commented, as the two ran on along the corridors of their Elite mansion, which is now their arena. It's like being back in the Hunter Exam again, being thrown into a dangerous area to fight each other just to have a chance to get that license, and a high paying job, only they knew what they are up against.

They are also not doing this for themselves, but for their beloved Leader who had loved and protected them before. Phillip himself was determined to destroy his counterpart for his former best friend. He knew Rosaline had the same thinking, but she wasn't as close to Pakura as Phillip was.

"They most likely have all the abilities that we have, making them a dangerous opponent to even us." Rosaline replied. "I wonder what would happen if we lose to them? Would we ever wake up?"

"Better to be stuck here with her than for her to suffer alone, I guess." Phillip answered.

Rosaline nodded, as she detected someone, and suddenly screeched to a stop.

"What's wrong?" Phillip asked, as Rosaline shouted, "I know you are there! Come on out!"

Out of a corner, footsteps sounded, and the figure stepped into the light of Rosaline's fire. It was a girl with black and dark pink highlights, and wearing a dark purple sweater with dark pink ruffle at the neckline. She was also wearing a slightly lighter pink skirt and dark purple leggings.

"That's your counterpart." Phillip remarked.

"Well, we all know that Pakura reluctantly let you in." Nightmare Rosaline sneered, as she walked towards them. "You can do better than the second position she thinks you don't deserve. She looks down on you just because you have a normal childhood and underestimated the PAL Elites. You should just take her out, and take over as the Leader and Princess. You'll be more recognized that way."

"You're wrong!" Rosaline countered. "She was right in saying I was naïve. I applied thinking all I needed was to win the Trainer's Tournament. What I did not know is that I needed to become a Hunter too. I am glad she decided to give me a second chance to prove myself in the three Exams and become a professional Hunter!"

"Even so, she didn't allow you in willingly. Didn't you see the look on her face when you succeeded?" Nightmare Rosaline laughed bitterly.

"Yes, but not only did she let me in, she let me have the second position, which was what I didn't earn because I lost to Jude! She gave me my Key Stone and my Mega Stones, and trained me in psychic powers after that! For her to give me this life, I am grateful!" Rosaline narrowed her eyes, as her eyes glowed blue, indicating she is about to activate her psychic powers.

"I'll go first, Rosaline." Rosaline nodded vehemently, as Phillip ran off, and she confronted her counterpart.

* * *

'Damn he is hard to defeat!' Ash thought, as his crystal sword was finally destroyed by the sharp rock shards his counterpart launched from the ground. 'It seems that he is immune to my ability to take away aura and psychic abilities, because he has the same ability too.'

"What would you do?" Nightmare Ash taunted, and Ash looked up to realize that the sharp rock shards were hovering above him. Nightmare Ash grinned, and brought his hand down, causing those shards to crush Ash underneath.

Nightmare Ash stared at the results, and remarked, "That was really boring." He checked over his injuries, which was minor other than the cuts Ash managed to make on his arms and cheek, along with the burns he had made via his Lava Manipulation.

"Where did you get that from?" Ash replied, as it was revealed he had created a barrier the split second before the rocks seemingly crushed him. "You got to do better than that."

Nightmare Ash narrowed his eyes. "You are really persistent."

"I fight for my friends." Ash replied, as he suddenly tapped Nightmare Ash on the shoulder, and a bomb appeared by his side like it did Pakura.

"Are you serious?" Nightmare Ash looked incredulous. "The bomb never exploded on my side."

"Neither did it explode on mine." Ash pointed out. "Why don't we see whose record it'll break?"

Nightmare Ash smirked. "You're on."

Ash engaged his counterpart in a hand-to-hand combat, making sure to hit his counterpart as hard as possible with an aura-infused punches and kicks, while guarding himself at the same time. He had to win this battle, for himself, and for Pakura.

The enlarged bomb went over to his side and became even bigger. Ash widened his eyes as he knew it was on the verge of exploding. Nightmare Ash grinned as the bomb exploded on Ash's side.

"Must be a new record, huh?" Nightmare Ash called out.

Ash hung his head, blood dripping from his head, trickling down to his chin. There were also a fair number of burns on his limbs. Ash spat out blood, and mumbled, "You really did it this time…." With that, his aura flared around him, making Nightmare Ash wonder what was going on with the good version of him.

Suddenly, Ash was surrounded in a suit of armour, and Nightmare Ash wondered what he would do with a fancy battle gear.

Ash had an orb of ball at his hand, and he threw it up, and Nightmare Ash tried to destroy the orb with Lava Manipulation, but it was too late as the orb was high up, way beyond the reach of his Lava Manipulation.

Suddenly, the orb transformed into a miniature sun, and Nightmare Ash screamed as he was incinerated by the heat radiating from the sun.

"The more damage I take, the hotter the sun." Ash called out. "This is another one of the take damage and then attack abilities I have."

Nightmare Ash found it hard to breathe, as he fell to his knees, and struggled for oxygen. His throat was burnt so badly he could only make gurgling noises.

"Too hot for you, isn't it?" Ash enquired sarcastically. "I thought we both have burn immunity and heat resistance due to our Lava Manipulation….least unlike you, I know where my limit is."

'I am one of the most….powerful….nightmares.' Nightmare Ash thought, as his life was weaned away from the heat. 'How….could…I have….lost to a guy….like…him?'

Ash stood over the incinerated body of his opponent, and noted that he was burnt beyond recognition. He also realized that his attack had a huge range, as it had destroyed half the Elite Plateau. Then again, this is in Pakura's head so the real Plateau is actually fine.

Ash walked on into the undamaged part of the mansion, looking for the rest of his teammates. Perhaps he can get Pakura to heal the injuries he sustained. He noted that he had used up almost half his aura just to defeat his opponent, which meant he was somewhat tired.

* * *

Pakura clung to Jude, trembling as she tried to listen for footsteps signalling the approach of one of the Nightmare PAL Elite members or Nightmare Shiki. In an attempt to soothe her, Jude moved his hand to her back, rubbing slow circles. It was the best way he knew to show his support in a situation like this.

"It's okay, I'm here. I am going to protect you." Jude said reassuringly. So far, there were no footsteps, which led Jude to assume that the other three who were out hunting their Nightmare counterparts had found them, and are probably doing their best to fight them.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to kill you. I just wanted to get you all out of my way so I can revive Shiki!" Pakura sobbed. She doesn't want to play with the Nightmare counterparts of their Elites anymore.

"It's okay Paku. At least I understand now. The other three also understood why you did it, and they forgave you just like I did. Right now, let's forget about the past and focus on building our relationship in the present." Jude gave her a soft smile.

While taking watch of the remaining Nightmares, Jude had gotten Pakura to talk about the pattern that each of them had. According to her, Nightmare Rosaline likes to pop out from corners, Nightmare Phillip likes to hide behind to under things, Nightmare Ash jumps from high places, and his own counterpart likes to use sneak tactics. Nightmare Shiki was the most dangerous as he had no fixed pattern at all.

'As I suspected, the person she is most emotionally attached to becomes the most dangerous Nightmare.' Jude thought, and narrowed his eyes as he heard a thud in the distance. Before Jude could stop her, Pakura ran to the open door and went out into the corridors.

Just then, the corridors dim lights were diminished, plunging the whole corridor into darkness. As if it wasn't enough, the darkness seemed to increase in intensity the longer the lights were diminished.

Jude growled, as he recognized this ability as his own, which meant that his Nightmare counterpart was nearby. But due to his Night Vision ability, he can see everything as clear as day.

"I can't see a thing...Help! I'm scared!" Pakura looked around in panic.

"Paku...can you hear me?" Jude shouted.

Though she was still panicked, she relaxed a little at Jude's voice, and nodded.

"Follow the sound of my voice." Jude commanded, walking out of the room to reach her as well. She needed to get back to the safety of her room.

Pakura seemed to hear something, and turned, frowning. Jude widened his eyes in horror as he saw his own counterpart appearing behind her, about to strike.

Jude rushed forward and punched his counterpart in the face as hard as he could, sending his counterpart staggering backwards. There was blood flowing from his counterpart's jaw, which dripped down his chin.

Nightmare Jude wiped the blood off, and said, "You know I am right. She needs to be eliminated. After all, she tried to destroy you. Remember the rules the Dragon Duo made up? One of them is that if an Elite member poses a threat to the region or to the other members, they should be exterminated."

"There is no way the Champion would approve of this." Jude replied, pushing Pakura behind him. "According to the Dragon Duo, it is true only they can change the rules, but the regional Champion has the power to choose whether to enforce the rules or not. If Ash chooses to invoke it, I will do whatever it takes to make Ash change his mind. If we are to be enemies because of it, I am fine with it. Because she is the only person I would accept as PAL's Princess and Elite Leader! No one else can replace her!"

"You're delusional if you think your little speech would move her." Nightmare Jude sneered, as he created a spinning column of water which took the form of a snake with a gaping jaw. Pakura turned pale at the sheer amount of water coming their way. Jude countered it by summoning water out of nowhere, and sent it to crush on the water snake. The clash of two water techniques caused the water level to reach their ankles.

Jude pushed Pakura into the safety of their room, before using an aura-infused water string he had conjured to tie both of the door knobs on the two doors, and adjusting the length to make sure that the door stays shut.

"Couldn't you have waited until Shiki infiltrates the room?" Nightmare Jude mock sighed in exasperation.

"No, because I am going to protect her from the likes of you." Jude replied, conjuring a sharp water blade. He knew that his counterpart most likely has all the abilities that he has, so the only way he could win is to outwit him. Jude inwardly grimaced as strategies isn't his forte, but like Ash would say, improvise on the spot.

* * *

"Really, you should've taken her out. You have the type advantage, and you are the smartest in the group. Why not reclaim your title as Leader? I know how disappointed you were when you lost that to her." Nightmare Phillip sneered when Phillip confronted him.

"It may be true that I was disappointed when I lost...but to be so greedy and power-hungry to take out somebody whom I have grown to respect and care about...is a goddamn huge mistake!" Phillip shouted. "I would never do that to my best friend!"

"That's why we are all doing your job for you. Why do you fight us so?" Nightmare Phillip shook his head.

"You're tormenting her, when she has suffered so much!" Phillip was livid, as somehow, he had summoned his Lighting Blade, one that was charged with pure electrical energy. "I don't see how you are helping us."

Nightmare Phillip sighed. "If only I have the Dragon Blade to counter that weapon…Oh well."

"Wait, what?" Phillip demanded.

Nightmare Phillip rose his eyebrows. "Don't tell me you don't know? The Dragon Blade is a famous weapon that was once located in PAL's Drákói City."

"That city of ours worship Dragon Pokémon too…" Phillip mumbled, having read about that city before, but never actually visited. "They had their own Dragon Clan too, and I hear the Dragon Duo and Champion Lance were their idols."

"That blade allows the wielder to cut and absorb their opponents' aura, which is a useful ability. It also chooses their own owner. If someone else they did not choose tried to wield it, spikes would protrude, which forces them to let go. That Dragon Blade had been stolen by Blackthorn City's Elders. They had infiltrated Drákói City you know, claiming to be envoys from the Hunter's Association to check if there are any suspicious activity, and stole the Dragon Blade, taking the box containing it back to their City, and said it was in their Clan for generations!" Nightmare Phillip gave a bitter laugh.

"What happened to the Dragon Blade?" Phillip asked.

"All I know is that Pakura stole it back, and the Dragon Blade chose her." Nightmare Phillip looked furious at that thought. "She is not worthy of that Dragon Blade."

"She is!" Phillip countered. "She is the Dragon Princess, and our Elite Leader. I cannot think of a better person to wield that weapon."

"Well, no matter." Nightmare Phillip grinned, as he summoned his robot minions. "That Dragon Blade is now with Shiki in here. But enough talk. My loyal guards, get him."

* * *

"Is that all you got?" Nightmare Rosaline jeered, though she was as tired as Rosaline.

Rosaline glared at her Nightmare counterpart. Due to the fact that she was immune to burns and heat in general, she was unable to use her Fire or Heat related abilities against her own counterpart. Thankfully, neither could her counterpart. Which meant that they resorted to a psychic duel ad hand-to-hand combat. Apparently Nightmare Rosaline's psychic powers were strengthened due to her hate for Pakura.

"Psychic powers are not fuelled by hatred or anger, but rather, the love for others!" Rosaline angrily told her.

"Then explain Pakura's psychic powers then?" Nightmare Rosaline checked her manicure. Rosaline had to admit her counterpart had a charm about her, in a twisted, corrupted sort of way. If she were to wander in their world, she would definitely capture some attention.

"Her psychic powers are not fuelled by hate, but from her feelings towards Shiki." Rosaline said confidently. "Also, he did transfer his powers to her, and his love for her also increased her psychic powers."

"How can you be so sure?" Nightmare Rosaline used telekinesis and hurled a boulder towards her. Rosaline shot a telekinetic blast, destroying the boulder.

'Oh yeah, Pakura taught me how to do that.' Rosaline looked down at her hands. 'It looks like when Shiki removed my blocks, the results my training also returned. But for now, I want to save my Leader, and that is all I want! If I can't even save my own teammate, I do not deserve to be a PAL Elite member!'

Unknown to her, her eyes were glowing blue, and a fiery feeling was inside her mind and she felt a need to release it. She decided to release it on her Nightmare counterpart, one of the many who were tormenting her own teammate.

'I want her to suffer for what she did!' Rosaline thought, allowing the hate to bubble up inside her, and released it.

"W-What?" Nightmare Rosaline felt like she was on fire. "My brain feels like it's on fire...I can't even think…"

Rosaline realized this was another ability she had mastered while Pakura was training herm and increased the intensity of that ability. Nightmare Rosaline screamed in agony, as she attempted to use her Fire abilities to extinguish a fire, but failed as the fire only existed inside her body.

Rosaline looked down at the sword that her Nightmare counterpart had dropped. Her hate that the fact that her counterpart was tormenting her teammate for a long time filled her, and she picked up the sword, deciding not to give her a quick death, but a slow and painful one for each day her counterpart mentally abused Pakura. Besides, what kind of PAL Elite would she be if she couldn't make her opponents suffer when she kills?

Rosaline did not stop when the first slice caused her counterpart's blood to splatter her face. And neither did she stop when she heard Nightmare Rosaline scream.

* * *

"Nice reflexes." Nightmare Jude said, as he had attacked Jude from behind but he managed to deflect it.

"You seem to forget darkening the arena won't work due to my Night Vision." Jude replied. Both of them were tired, and Jude knew it. He had to finish it once and for all.

"I didn't I was hoping you'd let your guard down because of it….looks like I was wrong." Nightmare Jude said.

"Of course. I cannot afford to let my guard down, because I promised her we would end this once and for all." Jude replied.

"How sweet." Nightmare Jude jeered.

Jude prepared to manipulate the water he had created from his earlier attacks around him to create mist, and added to it by expelling mist from his mouth, which surrounded the entire room. He then proceeded to hide among the mist.

Nightmare Jude gritted his teeth. As the mist was made from Jude's aura, which made it difficult to detect Jude's current location. Nightmare Jude shattered a chandelier, leaving broken glass all over the floor, and listened for Jude's footsteps. As soon as he heard Jude step on some of the broken glass, he reflexively turned, his trident ready to impale him, only to be intercepted with a single dagger. Jude did a backflip to dodge the second attack his counterpart was making towards him.

'Thank goodness I was wearing the thick boots today.' Jude thought. 'At least it would protect my feet from those broken glass.'

Jude engaged in hand-to-hand combat with his counterpart, infusing pure aura onto the said blade to increase its durability and lethality. Nightmare Jude, seeing this, also infused his trident with his aura as well. When Nightmare Jude brought down the trident onto Jude, Jude seemingly stopped the trident with both hands holding the blade only for Jude to send an aura-infused kick towards the trident, breaking it in half.

Nightmare Jude dodged the slice Jude made towards him with his knife. Jude then threw his knife at Nightmare Jude, who teasingly stepped back to dodge it. As it was not particularly fast, Nightmare Jude could dodge easily. What was more, Nightmare Jude could tell that it wouldn't even pierce him completely even if the knife did meet its mark.

"Tired, are you? Are you ready to give…?" Nightmare Jude trailed off as he realized he is unable to move. "Wait, what's going on?"

"You let your guard down, didn't you?" Jude smirked. "You see, when I did the slice towards you, at the same time I infused this blade with my own aura beforehand the way I would do before I perform my shadow abilities, which means that blade is given the effect of the said abilities. By using these weapons to pierce your shadow, you are paralysed in place."

"I never thought someone like you would come up with a clever move like this." Nightmare Jude hissed in anger.

"I admit, I am not as smart as Phillip or Pakura, but I can be a decent strategist. Besides, I figure the only way to win you is by wit." Jude shrugged. "But I got you now." With that, he proceeded to create a cloud of mist which he released from his mouth.

Nightmare Jude struggled to release the hold Jude's shadow ability had on him because he knew that the mist Jude had just expelled had powerful acidic property, capable of melting anything, including bodies. Sure enough, the things around them began melting, including the broken glass of the chandelier, and when the mist hit Nightmare Jude, his skin started peeling away.

Jude used his shadow to capture Nightmare Jude's. A shadow hand crept up Nightmare Jude's body, and the said hand began strangling him, which meant the Nightmare Jude had the agony of his melting body and the hand that was cutting him off of oxygen.

Nightmare Jude struggled to open his eyes, and saw Jude with a determined look.

'That boy…he'd do anything to protect his little sister…' Nightmare Jude thought, as his vision blurred, and he collapsed on the ground, unmoving.

Jude walked over to the melting corpse of his opponent in grim satisfaction, and turned to the door, where he kept Pakura. He untied the strings, and opened the door.

"Paku? Are you in?" Jude asked.

"Over here." Pakura whispered somewhere on his left.

Jude turned, and smiled in relief when he saw Pakura hugging a Usul doll that was dressed in a bridal gown. Jude reached out a hand to her, which she took. Jude felt a soothing aura flow into him as soon as they touched their hands, and realized his injuries were disappearing, and he felt more energetic.

"I'm useless in fighting, so I thought…" Pakura began babbling, but Jude hugged her to silence her.

"Let's go look for the others." Jude smiled, and decided to piggyback her, as she looked somewhat weary.

'Where could the others be?' Jude wondered, as he wandered along the corridor. Pakura was looking behind him, in case something was going to attack them.

"Well, look what we have here." A familiar voice said, sarcasm dripping from the tone.

Jude looked up, and groaned when he saw it was Nightmare Shiki. He put Pakura down, about to take him on, when Shiki sent a tornado towards them, and Jude was forced to jump to one side. That was enough to separate him from Pakura, and Shiki proceeded to use his teleportation to take Pakura away.

"Brother, find the others!" Pakura hastily said, as she felt the teleportation ability used on her.

"Pakura!" Jude shouted as she was teleported away.

"You're only getting in my way." Nightmare Shiki said coldly, as he teleported away as well.

Jude let tears of anger run down his face. Nightmare Shiki had gotten her, and he needed to save her fast before Nightmare Shiki kills her. But first, like Pakura said, he needed to find the others, because from past experience, he couldn't take on Shiki alone.

* * *

'Pure strategy won't help me right now.' Phillip thought, as he blocked Nightmare Phillip's punch by take on the quality of the broken parts of the robot minions he had destroyed. Nightmare Phillip winced as he literally punched steel, but it wasn't as bad as it could've been had he not tried to use an aura-infused punch. 'That guy is as smart as I am. He can easily think of a counter strategy that would no doubt trap me. But if I go in using brute force and raw power, perhaps I can overpower him.'

Phillip knew he had better finish the battle fast, as he was getting a tired from the fight, and he had the feeling he needed to save as much of his energy as possible.

Nightmare Phillip activated his Lightning Armour, and his hair, hands and feet glow with electric-like aura and his body starts to give off sparks. Phillip knew that physical attacks on his counterpart would get the attacker electrocuted or even paralyzed. Not only that, his speed drastically increases, which meant he could evade and attack as fast as lightning, hence the name.

'Two can play the same game.' Phillip thought, and closed his eyes to concentrate.

Nightmare Phillip suddenly vanished, and reappeared behind Phillip, ready to strike with all his aura poured into his serrated broadsword. However, Phillip had anticipated him, and managed to deflect the attack with his own Lightning Blade, and sliced towards him, but Nightmare Phillip jumped back. Nightmare Phillip's eyes widened as his shirt was torn, and he coughed out blood.

"I sent half my aura with my slice. As you used all your aura to power up your weapon, you are basically unguarded. Even a weak aura would be fatal if you take it on without guarding yourself." Phillip smirked. "I also used Lightning Armour, but I turned my aura into a field capable of transmitting all electrical impulses in a straight line from my brain directly to the part of the body I want to use before you made your attack."

"And by doing that, the nervous system is completely bypassed, which means your physical speed and reaction time to become even greater." Nightmare Phillip realized. "I never thought you would use the same ability against me to test whose is greater, and neither did I dream that you would use sheer power to deflect my attack."

"That is the only way I would be able to defeat myself." Phillip said. "Because I know I never did it before, so you wouldn't know how to counter. Besides, what kind of Elite member would I be if I cannot help my best friend?"

"True." Nightmare Phillip conceded, dusting himself off. "But this battle is not over." He picked up his broadsword, and Phillip's eyes glowed, and he repaired a small gun, a weapon that was wielded by one of Nightmare Phillip's minions but was destroyed.

"Are you that greedy for weapons?" Nightmare Phillip scoffed, as his broadsword was blocked by Phillip's Lightning Blade. "And are you stupid, only using one hand to hold that weapon?"

"No." Phillip replied, as he struggled to keep the broadsword from slicing his throat. "Because I know I can overpower you!" With that, he suddenly pushed his hand upwards, disarming Nightmare Phillip from his weapon. Nightmare Phillip stumbled backwards, and before he could even react, Phillip used the small gun to shoot aura-infused bullets at Nightmare Phillip as many times as he could until he ran out of ammo.

Nightmare Phillip looked down at his body which was now riddled with bullets, and fell to the ground. The fact that Phillip could not see a slight movement from the body indicated he was dead.

"Phillip! There you are!" A voice shouted. Phillip looked up in relief to see Ash running towards him.

"Hey, Ash." Phillip replied. "How did your battle go?"

"Manageable, but he was a difficult opponent." Ash answered. "Wonder how did the others do?"

"I did fine, that's for sure." Rosaline walked out, winking at them. Unlike the others, whose shirt and pants were stained with blood here and there, her shirt looked like it was taken to a dyeing service to be dyed red.

"Me too, but we have bad news." Jude looked away, miserable.

"What happened?" Ash asked.

"Nightmare Shiki. He has Pakura." Jude said grimly, and everyone gasped.

* * *

Nightmare Shiki angrily levitated Pakura up the ceiling, and Pakura was too shocked to even react. There were dried tear stains on her face, indicating she was crying.

"I don't know why the heck are you crying about? Scared? No one else is scared! Why are you? Stop being such a baby!" Nightmare Shiki sneered, as he threw Pakura towards a wall. Pakura used her own telekinesis to prevent herself from hitting the wall, but still slid down the floor.

"You know, your nightmares always come to life at night." Nightmare Shiki crooned, approaching the princess. "Didn't you induce nightmares into your own friends? And you even hid my body and never told anyone."

"I…I was trying to revive you, Shiki." Pakura stammered.

"Of course, you were trying to save me. Keep telling yourself that. You led me to my death five years ago!" Nightmare Shiki spat, as he crouched down to her level.

Nightmare Shiki hooked a finger under her chin and forced her to look into his glowing red eyes, instead of the usual purple she was so accustomed to. "You know, we could have been the perfect couple, had you not killed me. Everyone in PAL keeps talking about how we were the perfect couple, as we were always together, and never even looked at others once we hooked up."

"Because nobody knows of the shadows and darkness behind our perfect relationship, Shiki." Pakura countered. "Nobody else knew you raped me when I was 13."

"Ah, about that…" Nightmare Shiki trailed off. "You did forgive me, because I was drugged by my fans, no? And didn't we do it regularly ever since?"

Pakura started sweating, as she knew Nightmare Shiki was right.

"There, there, my dear Paku-chan." Nightmare Shiki laughed, as he petted her on the head. "I would never hurt you. How about a hug to confirm?"

Pakura, though she was crying at the fact that she had caused Shiki's death, nodded, as that was the least she could do after killing Shiki. Unknown to her, Nightmare Shiki had his Dragon Blade behind his back, ready to end her once and for all.

"Let go of her." A cold voice said. Nightmare Shiki looked up to see a Lightning Blade pointed at his throat. A pair of baby blue eyes were narrowed, glaring at him.

"How nice to see you, Phillip." Nightmare Shiki greeted. "Oh, look, you brought your friends too!" He looked up to see the other three glowering at him as well.

"Paku, come over here." Jude coaxed.

"Don't you dare, Paku-chan." Nightmare Shiki gave her a cold look.

Pakura looked from Jude to Nightmare Shiki, unsure of herself. Jude gave her a reassuring smile, and Nightmare Shiki rose his eyebrow coolly. Eventually, however, she dashed towards Jude, and into his arms.

"How dare you, Paku-chan?" Nightmare Shiki was furious. "You're my fiancé, not his! Or are you planning to cheat on me with him?"

Jude stepped in front of Pakura, and said, "You are not the boss of her. We're going to end you right here, right now."

Nightmare Shiki shook his head. "I'd like to see you try." At those words, he sent a powerful wind towards the five of them, while they tried to stand their ground. Pakura looked to the right, and saw something she could use. With that, she made her way there to retrieve the said item.

Ash eventually blocked the wind with his barrier, and signalled for the others to start attacking. Nightmare Shiki smirked, and released flower petals from his body. Using his wind abilities, he made the petals flow through the air and circle around the four of them, and Nightmare Shiki seemingly dissolved into petals.

"It's an illusion!" Rosaline shouted. The other three were looking around for Nightmare Shiki. Suddenly, Jude was sliced on the arm, and before they could even react, Nightmare Shiki vanished again. Next thing anyone knew, Rosaline was punched in the face, sending her to the ground.

"This is not good." Phillip muttered. "At this rate, he'll…"

Suddenly, they heard a melody, as if someone was playing from a flute. They were puzzled about the music until Jude realized they could pinpoint Nightmare Shiki's location now, as his body shape was visible. Before Nightmare Shiki could attack Ash, Phillip managed to electrocute him by touching him with his palm, causing him to stumble back.

They all turned to see the source of the noise, and saw Pakura standing there, holding a flute.

"Of course…by playing a certain melody, you are able to release your allies from powerful illusions." Nightmare Shiki gave Pakura a calculating look.

Pakura gulped, but brought the flute to her mouth and began playing a different melody. The four of them felt that their aura flow was boosted, making them more energized, and wondered how else can Pakura affect them when she projects her aura via her musical instruments.

Nightmare Shiki sent a blade of wind towards her in an attempt to destroy the flute, but it was deflected when a fiery barrier appeared in front of her, dissipating the blade of wind. Nightmare Shiki turned to see an energized Rosaline with a flame in her hand. She proceeded to launch a volley of fireballs towards Nightmare Shiki, who countered with launching spiralling whirlwind like ball. The attacks clashed, causing explosions and thick smoke to rise.

It turned out to be a distraction, as Jude appeared behind him, and water gushed from his mouth like a waterfall and soaked Nightmare Shiki.

"Is that all you got?" Nightmare Shiki asked incredulously, only for Phillip to signal all of them to jump, and he used his electricity to electrocute Nightmare Shiki. Nightmare Shiki gritted his teeth, before slicing Phillip in the stomach.

"You really forget, I am the stronger fighter of the Dragon Duo." Nightmare Shiki sneered, as he approached a wounded Phillip. Ash dashed in front of Phillip, his crystal sword at the ready.

"You shouldn't torment Paku anymore." Ash said quietly, as out of the corner of his eye, he saw Pakura rush over to Phillip to heal his wounds.

"And how are you going to stop me?" Nightmare Shiki sneered, as his eyes glowed. Rosaline's eyes became dull, and she went to stand by Nightmare Shiki's side.

'Of course, the Mind Control would work on Rosaline because she is a weaker psychic than Shiki and Paku.' Ash thought, as Rosaline prepared a series of powerful arrows around her…

….only they were suddenly frozen and shattered into pieces.

Everyone turned to look at Pakura, who had her hand outstretched. Her eyes were narrowed, though there were tears flowing freely down her face.

"W-What? I do hate Rosaline." Pakura mumbled, as Phillip got up, his wound completely healed. "But, I'm afraid you have to let her go."

"And what if I don't?" Nightmare Shiki smirked.

"Then I would take her on." Pakura said grimly, her ice sword on the ready.

"Bring it." Nightmare Shiki said. "Fire beats ice, and we all know it. Get her, Rosaline."

Rosaline didn't need any more orders, as she charged towards Pakura, engaging her in combat.

"Now, as for the three of you…" Nightmare Shiki used his psychic powers to levitate all the sharp objects in the room, and shot them towards the three boys. Jude dodged, Phillip destroyed them with his electric abilities, and Ash teleported away. Next second, Ash was behind Nightmare Shiki, ready to strike, but Nightmare Shiki swapped places with Jude, and Ash was forced to stop his attack in order to not hurt Jude.

Nightmare Shiki stomped his foot, and the whole room began shaking. The four of them struggled to keep their balance, while Rosaline lost her balance and fell to the ground. Rosaline managed to get up with the help of her telekinesis, and proceeded to attack Pakura again by encircling them in fire. Pakura gulped, but managed to freeze the fire, which surprised Nightmare Shiki.

"No way." Nightmare Shiki was astounded. "That ability only developed shortly after…"

"You must be behind the times, Shiki." Ash mocked. "She had this ability for years now, she has fully mastered this Ice Manipulation." As he said his words, Pakura tackled Rosaline, choking her until she passed out. She probably would have choked Rosaline longer due to her hate for Rosaline, but Jude pulled her off, shaking his head, indicating not to kill Rosaline.

Pakura dragged Rosaline's body and propped her against the pillar, and took out her flute once more.

"It's no use." Nightmare Shiki said coldly, as he sent gusts of wind that is powered by psychic powers at them. While they were distracted dodging them, Nightmare Shiki sent a dragon created with aura at them, before it split into hundreds of smaller aura dragons that started raining on them. The surrounding area suddenly became cold, and an ice dome was created around the three boys, and withstood the assault of the aura dragons, and remained almost undamaged.

"Nice work." Jude grinned.

"You're such a pain." Nightmare Shiki looked at the caster of the ice dome.

Pakura stayed silent, as she stared at Nightmare Shiki, who proceeded to attack her instead, hoping to take her out, since she was main supporter of the team. Pakura yelped, and clashed with his fan using her ice sword, before inadvertently turning invisible.

"What the?" Nightmare Shiki was scowling, before being distracted by Jude and Phillip attacking him with their respective abilities. Ash helped by sending balls of lava towards Nightmare Shiki, who pushed Jude and Phillip away by using telekinesis, and defending by shooting a telekinetic blasts at the lava balls. Jude and Phillip gave a nod, and Jude darkened the whole area, leaving Nightmare Shiki trying to look for them via the darkness.

"Now!" Jude shouted, and Phillip electrocuted Nightmare Shiki with all the power he got. Nightmare Shiki gritted his teeth at the pain, and when the attack ended, he attacked the entire area by creating an earthquake and a tornado at the same time. Ash seemingly wanted to counter the wind with his Crystal Manipulation, but at the last second, he dodged to the right, as a knife had come flying, piercing Nightmare Shiki's chest.

The boys looked on in shock as to who threw the knife as it was not part of the plan, only for a tearful Pakura to turn visible again, hand outstretched as if she had thrown something.

"Shi-chan….I…" Pakura was shocked at what she had just done.

Nightmare Shiki sighed, as he collapsed, Pakura catching him. "It's been a while since you called me that…Paku-chan."

"Wait, hold on, let me…" Pakura was about to use her healing abilities, but Nightmare Shiki stopped her.

"Tonight has proved one thing, Paku-chan: You do have people that care for you. All your Elite members, your Champion….they all fought hard to save you. They did not care of the consequences should they be killed here, because all they thought of is to save you." Nightmare Shiki gave a small smile, as he pulled out the knife.

"I…" Pakura started, but Nightmare Shiki shook his head.

"You cared for them too, Paku-chan. Why else would you throw the knife into my chest, when you saw that I was about to kill them? Why else would you fight against me in the first place?" A dribble of blood went down a corner of his lips, which Pakura hastily wiped.

"I'll answer that for you: Because deep down, you love them." Nightmare Shiki coughed. "I just hope…" Here, Nightmare Shiki hyperventilated.

"Shi-chan, are you alright?" Pakura asked, about to place her hands to heal him, but Nightmare Shiki held her wrists tight.

"Don't worry, Paku-chan, your nightmares end here. All five of us have been killed, thanks to all your friends. We won't haunt you anymore, because those things we hunt you down for are not real…I never blamed you for my death. I followed you by choice, because I love you, and I want to keep you alive, neither do those boys blame you for what you did, because they understood why you did it, and they realized it was never your fault…right?" He directed this to the boys.

"Definitely true." Jude nodded.

"Can't argue with that." Phillip agreed.

"Why would I even do that? You took me in when no one wanted me." Ash added.

"I know….they would take good care of you." Nightmare Shiki smiled, as his eyes turned back to the purple colour she so loved. "Remember….I love you." He placed a gentle kiss on her lips, before letting go of her shoulder, eyes dull. He was dead.

Pakura hastily wiped her eyes, as Phillip helped her up.

"Let's go back." Jude gave her a squeeze on her shoulder.

Pakura looked at Nightmare Shiki's body, and nodded. "Yeah….let's."

* * *

"Lance? Is something wrong?" Steven asked. The Kanto and Johto Elites decided to eat lunch together at the Johto Elites' floor, and Lance was unusually quiet and staring at his food.

Lance hesitated, before saying, "I think….I'm in love."

The other Elite members dropped their utensils and looked at one another in shock. Did Lance, the cool and heroic Johto Champion, just say he was in love? Sure, he was a popular Champion among the females due to his super-hot appearance and his passion to save Pokémon, along with the fact that he is also a high-ranked member of both the Johto and Kanto League, and a G-men. However, Lance never showed any interest in girls…until now, that is.

"Who's the lucky girl?" Lorelei asked curiously.

"Don't you mean unlucky?" Steven snickered, earning himself a smack from Lance.

"Why don't you take a guess?" Lance gave a somewhat sly smile.

"Alright. I start. I think it's…Flannery." Bruno said. "Because of the flaming red hair."

Lance chuckled. "No, it isn't."

"Glacia?" Lorelei guessed. "She is really pretty, and has an elegant appearance."

Lance shook his head.

"So not Glacia….how about Caitlin? She maintains a calm exterior in battles, and is like a little princess." Will suggested.

"No, it's not Caitlin." Lance answered.

"Elesa? She is a really popular model, and she is Unova's Shining Beauty." Karen added her guess.

Lance answered in the negative.

"Maylene?" Agatha guessed. "She does have a passionate spirit about her, maybe you like girls like that."

Lance smiled, but shook his head.

"Gardenia?" Steven said tentatively, but was also met with a shake of the head, indicating his answer was wrong.

"Hmm…Erika?" Koga put in his answer, and Lance made a cross with his arms.

"Give us a hint." Lorelei said.

"Ok…she's an Elite Four member." Lance said.

"Shauntal!" Will, Koga and Karen said.

"Phoebe?" Steven, Agatha, Bruno and Lorelei guessed. They didn't guess Caitlin or Glacia, as it was already stated that Lance didn't like them via their previous guesses.

"Nope, not them." Lance replied.

"It isn't Rosaline, is it?" Agatha asked.

"No, the heck, Agatha, she's dating Grimsley." Lance gave her an incredulous look.

"That's news to me." Koga said. "What a lot of interesting things I am learning about the PAL Elites today. Just how did you know this?"

"I…" Lance hesitated. He couldn't just say that he saw them kissing at the lobby before, right? So, instead, he answered with, "The Champion told me."

"You're friendly with their Champion?" Agatha asked.

"Let's just say we came to an agreement." Lance replied.

"But by process of elimination the only option left is Pakura, however it can't be her because you hate her." Bruno looked confused, shifting the topic back to the mystery person Lance likes.

"Actually your first statement is correct Bruno." Lance said calmly.

"Yay, I'm correct for…wait, what?" Bruno had realized what Lance had just said.

Lance sat back, arms folded. "Correct. That person is Pakura Ameyuri."

"WHAT?!" The Johto and Kanto League members shouted in unison.

'What's all the ruckus about?' The Johto/Hoenn Gym Leaders thought, as they looked up the ceiling/down on the floor, wondering what was going on at that floor.

"Lance, I thought you hate her." Karen frowned. Sure, the girl is extremely beautiful, as she had heard she was the regional's Beauty Queen. Not only that, she is also a powerful Pokémon Trainer and Coordinator, and emits a mysterious and independent aura about her, but…"You've said it plenty of times during mealtimes, how you can't stand her."

"Not anymore." Lance countered. "When I got to know her, really know her, I realized all she needed was a hug. Someone to comfort her, you know."

"And you want it to be you." Agatha finished, and Lance nodded.

"But Lance, why her? She's so cold like ice. Fits her specialty well if you ask me." Will shuddered.

"That's something you don't understand...but I will get her!" Lance brought his hands towards his own direction, and clenched it into a fist.

The Kanto and Johto League members looked at each other, wondering if someone poured crack in Lance's breakfast this morning.

* * *

Ash and Phillip woke up, and realized sunlight was streaming in Pakura's hospital room.

"Oh, it's morning already?" Ash yawned. "I felt like I didn't sleep at all."

"**Ash!" **Pikachu jumped into his arms, nuzzling him.

"Technically your mind was awake when you were fighting in my head." Pakura mumbled, trying to ease her headache. "I haven't been sleeping well lately." Next second, she was attacked by two furballs in the form of her Skitty and Eevee. Her Espeon and Sylveon were relieved that she was awake.

"Perhaps from tonight onwards, you would have a peaceful sleep." Phillip gave her a smile that he saved for people that were close to him. He petted his Emolga, who went and hugged him in relief when she saw he was fine.

"Perhaps." Pakura nodded, and settled back on her bed.

"**I thought you wouldn't wake up. Cynthia and Jasmine went to get the doctor when you and Phillip didn't respond."** Lucario said.

"Wait what?" Ash was startled, just as the door opened and in came Cynthia and Jasmine, followed by Akira.

"What are you talking about?" Akira was puzzled. "They don't look like they are in a coma to me."

"I swear, Doctor!" Jasmine was slightly hysterical. "They didn't wake up when we…" She trailed off when she saw Phillip looking tired but fine.

"Where happened to the two of you?" Cynthia cried. "We couldn't wake you up, no matter what we did! I thought you were dead!" She engulfed Ash in a hug, which he awkwardly returned. Meanwhile, Phillip was apologizing to Akira, telling him they must be so tired they fell asleep here, and didn't wake up until now.

"It was a long story." Ash replied, but smiled. "But I think we took a big step in repairing the PAL Elites….where's Pakura?"

Sure enough, when they looked at the hospital bed, it was empty. When did she leave?

Meanwhile….

"Make sure they are asleep, Espeon." Pakura said to her trusty Psychic Eeveelution. Espeon nodded, and used Psychic to knock Jude out, before going out to sneak into Rosaline's room. Liepard fell asleep while guarding Jude, which was just fine by her.

Then again, as they are always sleeping flat on their back thanks to their injuries, it won't look any different. She casually went into Jude's room, and noted his injuries are getting better, though it would take a long time until they heal.

Pakura placed her hands on Jude's body, and poured her aura into him to heal his injuries. Slowly but surely, and injuries began healing and scars were disappearing rapidly. Before she knew it, Jude looked good as new, and he could be sleeping when one looks at him.

'Well, that is the least I can do after the effort he made into saving me…right?' Pakura thought, as she made her way to Rosaline's room next. Espeon was already there, with a knocked out Rosaline. Her Espeon was also knocked out, probably by an Iron Tail to the head, by the looks of things.

"Added an Attract, didn't you?" Pakura asked.

"**Well, she was on guard, and we are opposite genders, so why not?" **Espeon shrugged. Espeon knew he can easily overpower Rosaline's Espeon, but he doesn't want a commotion, so he took the easy way.

"I don't even know why I bother with her, she drives me nuts." Pakura looked down at Rosaline in disdain. She rolled her eyes, and began to heal Rosaline as well. When she was fully healed, she left the hospital room with Espeon.

Pakura stopped, and thought, before making her way to Clair's room.

Meanwhile….

"Wow! Your guys are like a living miracle." Ai said, as she removed Jude's bandages, and made the bed. "You guys are suddenly completely healed, and your injuries were really heavy."

Jude frowned, as he knew not even PAL's advanced medical technology would be able to get his wounds healed that fast. He could only think of one person that could've done this- Pakura.

'Little sis, you…' Jude thought, smiling as he changed back into a casual jeans and a dark green shirt. Maybe they can reconcile with her after all. He tidied up his hair with a comb they provided, and as he headed out, he wore a red jacket. Jude decided to make his way to Pakura's hospital room. When he was outside, he ran into Rosaline, who was already in her casual clothes.

"Making your way to Pakura's room?" Jude asked, and Rosaline nodded.

"Who else could have healed us?" Rosaline replied.

When they reached Pakura's room, they heard Akira telling Pakura that she was being released, on the condition that she continues under the care of her Elite members, as they have refused to send her to PAL Rehab. Pakura was sighing, but she nodded her head, as if Akira had already told her a million times before.

Jude gave her a hug, while Rosaline gave her a grateful smile, knowing Pakura would refuse any affection with her thanks to the fact that she searched her room. This would be one of the times Rosaline cursed her inquisitive nature.

"Let's get back to the Tower for some rest." Ash suggested.

"You guys go ahead." Phillip muttered, pouring a flask of hot tea for himself. "I need a quiet place to reflect on something."

* * *

"I hope she can make a full recovery." Cynthia said, as they decided to rest for an hour before starting their lunch. As some of the residents in the Tower are known to eat very slowly due to the conversations they would have at the table, Ash is positive they can call for the cook before the others finish their lunch. As of now, only Ash, Jasmine, Jude, Grimsley, Rosaline and Cynthia are in the living room of the PAL Elite's quarters. Pakura was shut in her room, while Phillip was outside somewhere, probably in the forest.

"Do you?" Grimsley said caustically. "And what do you think, Ash?"

Ash, who looked somewhat exhausted and slightly discouraged, admitted, "I think Paku would get somewhat better. I don't know if she'll ever be the same, considering she suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression Disorder…."

"At least she's alive." Rosaline said, as if she's losing patience with them. "She's damaged, but she's with us. And we somehow managed to eliminate her nightmares."

"True." Jude conceded. "But what if it's only a part of it? What if there are other things still plaguing her nightmares?"

"Yeah, people suffering from PTSD tend to have nightmares of the traumatic event that caused them to develop the said disorder." Jasmine said thoughtfully. At everyone's questioning gaze, Jasmine explained, "I was reading a psychology book Pakura left behind the other day when I was seeking her advice on writing a love poem for Phillip. She apparently studies psychology as her hobby."

"Oh yeah, she studies whatever grabs her interest." Ash said. "She is also well-versed in lip-reading you know."

"I think there's a chance that the old Pakura, the one who loved and cared about us, is still inside. Trying to get back to us. We can't give up on her." Rosaline added. "Not when we got this far."

"Rosaline is right." Cynthia agreed. "We know what she been through, we all know she is not mad, she's just unstable. And it is up to us to stabilize her."

"Well said, Cynthia. But remember, she cannot afford to have another negative event happen to her. So if someone wants to date her, make sure the person is extremely committed to be loyal to her, and he must not initiate the breakup." Grimsley said.

"What are you talking about, Grimsley?" Ash was puzzled.

"It's a poker player's instinct." Grimsley said suavely. "I saw Lance mouth the words 'I promise' when Shiki was saying farewell to us. I have a feeling that this promise has something to do with Pakura."

Just then, the phone in their lobby rang. Grimsley, who was the nearest, answered the phone.

"Hello?" Grimsley said. A few seconds of silence, and then Grimsley said to Ash, "It's for you."

Ash muttered a thanks to Grimsley, and took the receiver.

"Hello?" Ash greeted the caller.

"Ash!" A familiar voice said. It was Gary and judging by the background voice, Paul was with him.

"Hey guys, didn't hear from you for quite a while." Ash smiled.

"Yeah, we all watched the news of your Elites being in the hospital with heavy injuries. Are you alright?" Paul asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking." Ash replied. "Mine wasn't so bad, just a few cuts here or two. You should have seen the other three."

"Three?" Gary was puzzled, while Paul said, "Gary, remember Pakura wasn't injured? She was in the hospital for trauma." That left Gary to reply with, "Oh yeah. So how was the Leader?"

"Not very good." Ash admitted. "When the doctor screened her, it turned out she is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Major Depression Disorder."

"That sucks." Paul said sympathetically.

"Bummer." Gary added his opinion. "Is she alright?"

"She's recovering, we are trying to help make her recovery process faster. Please don't leak this out, if the public gets wind of this, they'll take her to PAL Rehab and she'll lose all your positions." Ash pleaded. "The PAL Elite would fall without her, and the region as well."

"Ash, you're the Prince of the region. She only kept her Princess title because you allowed her to." Paul reminded him.

"But remember she is more of a veteran than I am. She has been in the ruling game longer than me." Ash countered.

"True." Gary conceded. "Oh, and Tracey wants to ask you if Rosaline would let him see her works."

"Hey, Rosaline!" Ash called to his artistic Elite member. Rosaline looked up from talking to Grimsley.

"Tracey wants to ask you if you'd let him see your works. He had seen a few and he loves them." Ash pointed to the receiver.

Rosaline shrugged. "Sure, just tell me when and where, and I'll pencil him in."

"You heard her." Ash put the receiver back on his ear.

"Tracey would be pleased." Paul replied.

"Indeed." Ash nodded.

"So, you managed to solve the so-called mysteries in the PAL Region? And what happened to the Dragon Duo?" Gary asked.

"Yeah, I did." Ash admitted.

"So, who caused it?" Paul enquired.

Ash sighed. "I'll tell you the next time we meet. This is something that shouldn't be said over the phone."

"Alright." The two said in unison.

"Well, got to go, we're going to have lunch soon." Ash smelt the aroma wafting from a chicken patty. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his Elites setting up all the food bowls for their Pokémon.

"Bye, Ash!" Paul and Gary greeted at the same time.

"Bye." With that, Ash hung up the phone.

Ash was about to go to his seat, but said, "Oh wait, I forgot." He went into his room, and went through the connecting door.

* * *

Phillip sat on a rock near a lake, clasping the flask between his hands even though the warmth of the tea has long since leached into the cold air, while his Pokémon were playing at the grassy field. He knew from the cold air that winter is approaching soon. His muscles are somewhat stiff from sitting still for an extended period of time. He knew he should stand up and move around to work the stiffness from his limbs, but he needed to sit and reflect on the events that had happened.

Phillip knew he and Pakura clicked instantly and became best friends because of the nature of their families, which meant they could empathize with each other on the lack of family love they received. Also, they were ostracized by the people of their hometown. Unlike Phillip, who were simply bullied by people of his own age (he was attacked physically, but only occasionally), Pakura had things thrown at her as a toddler, even by adults, and since she was isolated in a cell, she only had little space to move to avoid them. Phillip knew she was ganged up upon at some point.

His family had neglected and ignored him because he was a social outcast due to his preference of reading books and experimenting on things while they fawn over his little brother Acer, who was the opposite: a social butterfly, and they often compared him to his little brother. Phillip later learnt that he became a businessman at Devon Corporation, with various social connections to international branches, and even connections to Kanto's Silph Co.

'Of course, he would be in the corporate world, since social connections are essential there.' Phillip thought bitterly. 'Bet my dear parents are so proud of their son.' But he knew he had achieved even more than his brother would ever hope to attain. He was sure his family knew, for they had sent letters every time he made a new invention known to the public, but he simply asked Rosaline to burn them or throw them in the fireplace. If they didn't bother contacting him when he was an ordinary trainer on his journey, then they have no business trying to contact him now that he was world-famous.

'Probably wants to brag to their high-class friends that their elder son is a member of the PAL Elite Four.' Phillip thought. 'No way am I giving them the satisfaction.'

If it were up to him, he would try to forget his family, to never speak of them. Pretend they were nothing but mere strangers. But eventually, he knew that the locals would eventually question why his family was not among those that were interviewed during the Top 16.

Whatever. Phillip doesn't have the desire to see his family, which was why he never returned, not even once, to Mauville City, and never explored his own region during his Pokémon Journey. He also never bothered to send them tickets to the Pokémon World Championship after they left the hospital, while Jude and Rosaline did, knowing that they should appreciate what they have.

He wondered if his family wanted him dead, just like Pakura's family did. He was almost sure that Pakura's biological family gave her away to Team Rocket hoping she would die under Team Rocket's 'care'.

Phillip's respect for his Leader simply soared when he knew what she had been through. She was an epitome of how even people who were thought as the "lowest scum" can rise to become one of the brightest stars. Not that Phillip thought she was the scum, that title belonged to those in Blackthorn City and her family. He was sure Lance would agree.

True, she had tried to kill the other Elite members, including him, but it was only because she was angry. Angry at them, for not being a better friend to her. Phillip had regretted deserting her, and knew he had to work doubly hard to make up to his best friend.

'I also need to train hard as well, my skills are getting rusty.' Phillip sipped his cold tea.

His CommuniDex rang, and Phillip answered. He managed to muster a smile when he saw it was Pakura.

"Phil, where are you?" Phillip's heart jumped for joy at the nickname. "We're waiting for you to have lunch with us."

"Are you eating with us?" Phillip sounded hopeful.

"Ah…I initially wanted to eat in my room while doing my paperwork, but…" Pakura jerked her thumb at the person sitting next to her. Judging by the hair, he knew it was Ash.

"Let's just say I dragged her out, and pushed all her paperwork to the other two members. You would need to do some paperwork when you get back." Ash announced. "I am going to give Pakura plenty of rest days, she had done enough, don't you think?"

Phillip nodded. "Of course. I'm on my way." He closed the CommuniDex, and started walking out of the forest, deciding to return all his Pokémon, including his Emolga, as he wanted to enjoy the walk back alone for now.

Phillip stopped when he spotted a familiar reddish-brown hair belonging to a young man, and two middle-aged people asking a passer-by the directions to the Battle Tower. He stiffened when he realized he recognized those people, even after years of not seeing them. He decided to take another way back, but took a wrong turn, and ended up bumping into the three people he saw earlier.

"B-Brother?" The youngest of the trio whispered.

"It's been a while." Phillip said in his iciest voice he could muster, and giving them a cold glare. "Mother, Father, and my dear little brother Acer."

**BP: And end of the chapter (Please read below, I have a lot of important news to share. Questions are underlined, so please give your opinions if possible) **

**I am sorry if this chapter is boring, and too much fighting, because the Nightmares are difficult to defeat for a reason: Those are replicas of the Elite members, and have the exact same abilities as them. I wanted a clash of ideals, the belief that Pakura is a threat to them vs. Pakura has, and always would be a good friend to them. Even Nightmare Shiki has the exact same abilities Pakura remembered he had in his lifetime. As he was good enough to defeat the three Elites in Chapter 14 (albeit it was in Pakura's mind), they would have to fight him together. The fact that Pakura stabbed Nightmare Shiki indicated she was at her first step in overcoming her frightful past and into a future without Shiki. **

**The Usuki doll series is derived from Neopets, well I am actually a player in Neopets when I was young, but now I am back in that game. I figure Pakura had to be a fan of something, which made me to add the idea that she is a big fan of those dolls. She did get her first Usuki doll from Shiki as a present, which for her to collect more things related to those Usuki dolls. **

**The Top 8 would finally happen in the next chapter, so look forward to that! **

**And yes, I am alone in this Fanfiction project ever since mysterypink98 started college. I haven't spoken to her for almost a month now, and for whatsapp, for some reason I can't see her profile, status or her last seen like I used to. I don't know if she is blocking me, but I tried to email her, and she hasn't replied, so….this chapter is for her, she had been looking forward to it for months now, so myterypink98, if you are reading this, I am supporting you all the way, and I hope you can message me again sometime when you are free. I will be waiting, and I hope you didn't forget about me****. **

**We already lost a friend back in 2013, and I don't want to her as well, you see. Don't blame me if I write something you didn't approve that you didn't add under the scary pics list. *whistle* **

**Oh yeah, I had to remove one Legendary from Rosaline's (her OC), because her team contained five, which is more than Jude or Phillip. Being the weakest, it would make no sense (at least not to me) that she had more Legendaries than her stronger teammates. While she did say to give more to Jude and Phillip so she can have her five Legendaries, but I realized due to the type specialty, Phillip doesn't have much to work with, hence my decision to remove one in order to make it fair. **

**After careful consideration, I decided to be fair and transferred Hoopa under Jude's ownership instead. Mysterypink98, I hope you can forgive me, because due to the circumstances above, I wasn't able to reach you to consult you for my decision and hence I ended up having to decide for myself. **

**I am sorry if this chapter is bad, but understand I didn't touch it for a long time and had to read back in order to remember where I left off, and I am sorry if it was focused on Pakura too much, because she was the reason why the Elites promised to fight the nightmares haunting her in the first place in the previous chapter, and I want to make it difficult, but yet the PAL Elites would not give up, because they couldn't and wouldn't give up on her.**

**So basically, I am alone in this Fanfiction Project.**

**There are a few story ideas that I might go through with once I finish PAL Chronicles and Dark Chronicles. Please take a look at them (I think ahead so I can jot down my ideas in a notebook and won't forget when I start the story itself): **

**Title of the story: Not yet decided**

**Summary: The last thing Ash and his Elites remember was being in a mission investigating a device that was smuggled in their region that apparently allows one to manifest and use abilities despite the fact that they don't have any aura, and being attacked by an army of people using the said device. So why did they wake up in another world, specifically in a world where they are apparently Defense Attorneys/Prosecutors/Detectives? **

**Much to their distress, their Pokémon have turned into Plushies and their Key Stones are now useless. Not only that, they are separated from their team members, and their CommuniDexes are now high-tech watches, leaving them no way to contact one another. And why do those strange people living in that world claim to know them, some even saying they knew them for years? The five of them have to live their "lives" as they race to find each other, stand in the courtroom for various cases, while hiding their powers from these ordinary people. They have only one goal: Find their way home. (X-over with Ace Attorney) **

**Note: The PAL Elites will be single, and they are all at least in their late twenties in this story. **

**Questions:**

**1\. Can you tell me which of the PAL Elites should be Defense Attorney, Prosecutors, and Detectives? (E.g: If you think Rosaline should be a Detective, just say "Rosaline should be a detective in this world"). **

**2\. Should the Elite Leader be known as Pakura Ameyuri or Amethyst Paradinight (her name in PAL Academy)? **

**3\. Should we have pairings with AA characters? If yes, what pairing do you hope to see?  
(And no, I am not going to do RoyalShipping, that is for PAL Academy. Yes, I originally wanted Ash with someone else, but due to the overwhelming requests, I decided to do RoyalShipping for PAL Academy. And yes, it will work out.)**

**4\. Should Shiki be alive? And what is his relationship with Pakura? And should he be a Defense Attorney/Prosecutor/Detective? **

**5\. Any suggestions for the title of this story?**

**Title of the story: Pokémon: Heartsong Symphony**

**Summary: After finishing his travels with Kalos, Ash decided to travel to the PAL Region as recommended by Professor Oak. He had heard that the Pokémon League there was somewhat different from the regions he had travelled so far. When he reached there, he gains a travelling companion, who seemed to take an interest in him, and he/she may be keeping some secrets from him too. Whatever it is, Ash is in for a thrilling adventure with his new companion, and his companion would understand why Ash is the Chosen One. **

**Question:**

**In this fic, Ash will travel with one of the PAL Elite Four member (but it would be unknown to Ash until he takes the Elite challenge). Who do you vote as Ash's travelling companion? Note: Because the travelling companion is an Elite Four instead of a Gym Leader, I make up for it by putting one less travelling companion for him.**

**I hope to get some answers on these questions so I can get started on these stories as soon as I am done with the two stories, since I am now without mysterypink98's help until she is free. As I respect her space and her need for time for homework, I can only hope she contacts me when she is free. **

**Ok, as for my Deviantart account, I will be answering questions the fans may have for my PAL Series stories. It is supposed to be mysterypink98 who does this, but it looks like the job fell to me instead. **

**You can even request I discuss a topic related to my fanfiction project (E.g: You can ask me to write about how I came up with the characters in my story and stuff like that.) Please put your requests in form of PM, reviews in my story, or comment on my first Deviantart Journal Post. **

**Please check out my Deviantart account, and please comment on the pictures I made via Photoshop and Rinmaru Games. My username is cutethings97. I would also post Journals on what story ideas I have for the PAL Series, besides using it to answer questions. **

**As for why I didn't draw my characters out, it's because I cannot draw, and neither do I have someone to help me design the characters themselves. I cannot afford commissions either, so….**

**I have also cleaned up the pages containing information on the PAL Elite Four members in the PAL Series, so feel free to check them out! Please give comments as to what you think of the information posted. And also, please help me add pages and edit because I can't do this alone.**

**Check out my PAL Series Wikia and Deviantart, links are all in my Fanfiction profile (remove the spaces). Thank you for reading, and help me develop my ideas of a new story so that I can write them after I finish these two stories. **

**News flash: The Unlikeliest Second Chance at Life would be published soon, please look forward to it! Thank you for reading until here!**

**Any do review, favourite and follow this story, and give as many suggestions as possible!**


	17. Disastrous date ,Top 8 commences

**BP: Nothing to say, except….I am really disappointed with the lack of reviews, though I blame it upon the lack of action in the start of Season 2, because they needed to help Pakura out with her nightmares and she is actually unstable on account with suffering from PTSD and MDD. I just hope this chapter gets more reviews, though. **

**Anyway, March holidays are approaching, and I just hope mysterypink98 contacts me because I really didn't want to disturb her when she's busy. I don't know anything ever since she started JC, and sad to say, she has not contacted me since January. My poly friends think she ditched me or something, and forgot about me for her new JC friends. While I hope it isn't true, as days go by, I start to get unsure. Friends don't have expiry dates….right? I'll probably lose hope if she doesn't contact me by March holidays, it's been a whole month already. **

**However, this issue with mysterypink98 aside, the stories have to go on. I hope I am not alone in this. I cannot ditch my stories now I have gone so far. **

**Oh yea, last chapter, remember I still have two story ideas? Since mysterypink98 can't help me now, I hope I can get help from my readers, so that this Fanfiction Project can go on, and hopefully I can add more stories to this project. **

**Please check out my Deviantart (username: cutethings97) if you haven't! I had posted Jude's VS Screen for my readers to view. Do tell me what you think of it (I have no comments on the picture *sob*). I made it via Photoshop and Rinmaru Games (now if only I can find someone to help me with my character art…) **

"Phillip!" Penelope, his mother cried, as she slowly walked towards her elder son, tears threatening to fall from her increasingly moistening eyes, and arms held out in an impending embrace. "You're back, sweetheart."

Her husband couldn't help but smile at the reunion, knowing how much they had been waiting to see Phillip again ever since he left home, but Acer, his little brother, wasn't so sure, as he swore he saw Phillip's eyes darkening as their mother came closer to him. Next second, he saw his bother throw his Pokéball and heard him say coldly, "Emolga, Thunderbolt!" The adorable Sky Squirrel Pokémon appeared, happy to be out at last, and sent a powerful Thunderbolt towards his mother.

The Thunderbolt hit the ground just in front of Penelope, causing an explosion that caused her to cover her eyes with her arm to prevent dust from getting into them, and took a step back to prevent herself from being knocked on the ground by the sheer power of the explosion caused by the Thunderbolt.

"Looks like we missed." Phillip said nonchalantly, uncaring of how much harm he could have caused.

'I knew it.' Acer thought. Meanwhile, Gregory couldn't believe that Phillip had ordered an attack on his own mother. Penelope stood where she was confused for a split second, before realizing that Phillip had tried to attack her, but missed on purpose. She let her tears fall, as she realized her own son had tried to hurt her.

"W-What's wrong, Phillip?" Penelope asked.

"I don't want to see you, that's what." Phillip replied, glaring at them.

"Why not?" Gregory enquired.

"Why do you think? I have grown up to you comparing me to my little brother, and my own peers making fun of me. Not only that, you egged them on instead of comforting me. What kind of parents are you? No wait, forget it, I am so done with you 12 years ago." Phillip sneered, as his family recoiled at his harsh words.

"Please, Phillip, we can explain!" His mother pleaded.

"Well, then, let's hear your pathetic excuse." Phillip folded his arms, and tapped his foot.

"You see, we were idiots! We thought the kids were doing it for fun, and it was a friendly banter!" Penelope reasoned.

"Wow, that excuse definitely scores negative marks." Phillip said sarcastically. "And what a coincidence you tried to find me only when I moved here."

Acer kept silent. He knew whatever he said won't work on Phillip now. His brother hates them, he could see it in his eyes. That was probably the reason why he never returned home, why he never bothered to contact them. Perhaps Phillip even tried to forget them, until they ruined it in this moment. He regretted being complacent during their times together in their childhood.

Acer still remembered the older brother who would shoot him looks of envy, the older brother who would only glance at him once before shutting himself in his room after mealtimes. He was only a child, he was so proud of the compliments his parents sent him, that he had failed to notice his brother not getting any from them. There were times Acer wanted to ask Phillip why he was distant with his family even from the beginning, and when Phillip left home, he felt somewhat lonely.

Everyone may have forgotten about his presence after he left for his journey, but Acer still remembered, and he knew his parents did, too, no matter how hard they try to hide it. Phillip never contacted them once during the two years, and his parents were unable to locate him, even with their social connections. All they found was Phillip may be in a certain city by now, and just as they were about to follow him there, he vanished again. His curiosity as to Phillip's reason for his disappearance never evaporated, and he wanted to see him again, to ask him why.

Unknown that Phillip never travelled their home region, Acer set out on a Pokémon journey in his home region to find him, while finding his place in the world. When would they meet? Would they ever meet? He didn't know. No one knew.

"Tell me, how did you get tickets to the Pokémon World Championship?" Phillip asked. "I am sure I never sent them to you."

"I secured them, brother." Acer spoke up. "We had to buy them online, and it was expensive, but our parents thought it would be worth it if they could see you."

"You wasted your money on those plane tickets and to the tournament." Phillip yawned.

"How could you say that?" Acer was hurt. They made the effort to come see him, and yet he was brushing them off like they were nothing!

"I think I can say whatever I want." Phillip replied calmly. "What are you going to do about it?"

Acer took out a Pokéball from his pocket, which his mother responded by, "Acer, no!"

Phillip saw the Pokéball, and look amused. "So, little brother. Think you can take me on?" He said in a mocking tone, as he took out another Pokéball. "I hope for a good battle, considering how proud your parents are of you so many years ago."

Acer knew by the way Phillip said, "Your parents", he didn't consider Penelope and Gregory as his parents. "Leafeon, it's battle time!"

"Jolteon, I need your help!" Phillip threw out his Electric-type Eeveelution.

"Five minutes is all I need to take all six of your Pokémon down." Phillip said, smiling darkly.

True enough, in five minutes, Phillip had taken all six of Acer's on-hand Pokémon with only his Jolteon and his Empoleon . Most were OHKO (One-Hit Knock Out) due to the sheer power of Phillip's moves, and Acer himself was not a powerful battler. True, he is more powerful than the Gym Leaders, but he was no match for a regional Elite Four member, much less an Elite Four that came from the PAL Region. What is more, Phillip is one of the stronger members in the said Elite Four.

"Phil!" A voice called, and Phillip turned in relief to see Pakura running towards him. Phillip's family also turned to see the beautiful girl run towards him, and Acer found himself admiring her beauty.

"Hey, Paku." Phillip said in relief. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you because you were taking so long, and we were getting hungry." Pakura replied. She saw Phillip's family, and asked, "Do you know them?"

"No, not at all." Phillip answered. "They just came up to me and talked to me. Weird, huh?" Acer could almost hear all their hearts break at the statement. Even he felt like crying when he realized Phillip had essentially cut them out of his life.

Pakura nodded, as Phillip said, "Come on, let's go."

He heard his mother begin to cry as he left with Pakura, with his father trying to comfort her. He himself lowered his head, allowing his fringe to hide his eyes, also trying not to cry at Phillip's cold rejection.

* * *

In the control room located at their floor, Ash and Pakura were comfortably seated in front of the control panels that contained the footage of the cameras placed at various locations around the Battle Tower. They were tasked to make the announcement to the other regional guests that the Top 8 would commence tomorrow.

The cameras were installed not because of privacy reasons, it's because they are looking out should anything happen and they can act immediately. What is more, they could not hear what the others are talking about, as they had to tune in using the control board provided.

The control room also contained controls for the air-conditioner in each of the floors and the rooms themselves, and the lighting for their living quarters as well. Usually, Phillip set it so that lights in the living rooms would go out by midnight, but their floor was an exception due to the fact that Pakura would stay up the entire night, which means she needed those lights to be on. Of course, these control rooms are also exceptions, as they had a table and couches at one part of the room, and if one presses the corresponding buttons located at the table, the table top would split open to reveal food, drinks, or even both. Ash and Pakura had ordered orange juice and coffee respectively.

"Well, then, let's not waste our words." Ash said, and Pakura nodded. He turned on the mic, and called everyone to attention. He watched as everyone paused in eating their lunch, and turned their heads towards the speakers located in their floors. Ash told them that the due to a miracle which he couldn't name, all four of the PAL Elites have recovered, which meant they would be commencing the Top 8 tomorrow, and that the PAL Contest would be continuing from where they left off as well. That led some of them to cheer, and hug each other in relief.

Ash allowed a few moments of celebration, and then continued in his brisk fashion. "Well, then, participants from the Top 8, please train hard today, and let's hope we get a good show tomorrow!" He gestured for Pakura to turn off the mic, when a knock on the door sounded.

Ash used telekinesis to open the door, and was surprised to see Lance.

"Hey, Lance." Ash greeted. "Do you need something?"

"Yeah, I actually came to ask you something." Lance replied.

Pakura shrugged, and placed herself in a soundproof barrier. However, unknown to them, she had placed a confetti on Ash's collar, and made a paper doll of Ash, so she can hear the conversation. Also, she also forgot (probably on purpose) to do one fatal thing: Turn off the mic. She pretended to be looking after her Egg, while absent-mindedly petting her Eevee, who was pawing away at the glass case which contained her Egg.

"So, what is it that you want to ask?" Ash said, as he sipped on his orange juice.

"I was wondering….if you'd give me permission to…" Lance couldn't get the words out.

"Spit it out." Ash said, somewhat irritated, as he took another gulp of his drink.

"Would you give me permission to go on a date with Pakura?" Lance asked. Ash, hearing this, spat out his drink, and unfortunately, it landed on Lance's face.

"What was that for?" Lance gave Ash a look, before reaching for a napkin to wipe his face and his collar.

"Excuse me?" Ash was incredulous. "Did I hear you say you want to ask Paku out on a date?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah, why not?"

Meanwhile, Pakura inwardly facepalmed. It seemed to her she got another suitor, and something tells her he wasn't going to be easy to get rid of. While she was inwardly bemoaning her fate, the others living in the Tower were stunned. Was that really Lance up there, trying to ask the Champion for a permission to date the regional princess?

Somewhere at the Johto Gym Leader's floor, Clair entered the quarters, much to the surprise of the other Gym Leaders, as the doctors didn't expect Clair to heal for a few weeks due to the clean break her leg had.

"Clair!" Whitney cried in surprise. "It's great to see you walking again!"

"Thanks, Whitney." Clair smiled, as she took a seat next to Morty. "The doctors thought it was a miracle too."

"Yeah about that, the Top 8 is going to commence tomorrow. Your cousin would be battling, won't he?" Falkner said.

"Yes. Speaking of which, I got to train with him for the Top 8 tomorrow. Where is he, anyway?" She enquired, as she started on her lunch.

"About that…." Morty trailed off. "He's up in the 12th floor now."

"Why would Lance be up there?" Clair was bewildered. "That's the PAL Elites' floor."

As if on cue, Ash shouted through the intercom, "Lance, we all know you like those sweet, graceful, angelic type of girls. You said it in an interview once, and everyone heard it. Pakura is none of these, and since when do you like badass, ruthless girls?"

"People can change their tastes, you know." Lance reminded him.

"More like you changed your taste to suit Paku." Ash snorted.

Clair looked at the intercom in disbelief. "Is that Lance up there?"

The other Gym Leaders nodded. "Apparently, he is asking the Champion for permission to go on a date with that Pakura girl." Pryce replied.

"Great. Even my cousin has fallen for that princess' charms." Clair resisted the urge to facepalm. "While I concede he had the freedom to choose his own wife ever since our clan members were wiped out, and that included his betrothed the Elders chose for him, we all know how much he hates her, and even if he doesn't, does he think she'd give him the time of day?"

"He apparently thinks he has a chance, if him being up there is any indication." Chuck said, tilting his head towards the intercoms, just as Ash said, "You know she's sort of taken, right?"

"We all know her fiancé is already dead." Lance replied, and the others gasped at this fact.

"Unfortunately, she can't forget her dead fiancé." Ash said, and there was a clink, which they assumed Ash had put down his drink. "She is loyal to him, and she is definitely not on the rebound."

"Her fiancé was my best friend, and we knew each other since we were children. I promised him I'd take care of her. Because I know he'd want her to be happy." Lance retorted.

"Since we were children?" Clair echoed.

"Do you know his best friend?" Whitney asked.

Clair nodded. "I think it's most likely the boy called Shiki Kurobane. Didn't like him much, actually. He was pretty mouthy, and openly rebellious towards his own Elders. But they let him off because he was an extremely brilliant prodigy. No wonder we didn't see him when we returned to Blackthorn City after the massacre. It's probably because he was already dead."

"And he was engaged to Princess Pakura, by the looks of things." Morty added. "Perhaps she knows what happened to this Shiki guy, and was even there when he died."

They heard Ash sigh, and say, "Fine, it looks like I can't convince you not to pursue her. But you know she cannot afford to suffer anymore. If she is hurt in any way…let's just say, you would wish you are dead, and even if you are, I am sure your best friend would like to get his input on you."

Lance gulped, just as Ash say, "Now you try and convince her to go on the date. I am not going to force her if she doesn't want to." With that, they heard the door open and close, indicating Ash has left.

* * *

"May I help you?" Pakura pretended to ask, as she had overheard the conversation, but she is acting as if she didn't. She subtly pressed a button to turn off the surveillance cameras. Pakura sipped her coffee, and waited for Lance to say something. "I am sort of in a hurry, because I have a lunch meeting with Queen Ilene in Rota, and I have no time to waste."

"Then I'll make this quick." Lance replied. "Would you go for dinner with me tonight?"

Pakura spat out her coffee, onto Lance's clothes.

"Not again!" Lance took a napkin and wiped his blue tunic. "I just got this from the laundry."

"Really…" Pakura said sarcastically. "I had the impression your clothes were magic and never got dirty."

"I had several." Lance grumbled. "So, what's your answer?"

"No." Pakura promptly answered.

"What the?" Lance was somewhat shocked. "You haven't even considered!"

"I did." Pakura said bluntly. "Now leave."

"I'm not leaving until you change your answer." Lance folded his arms.

"Ok, I'll change my answer….to fat chance." Pakura said expressionlessly.

"That does not count!" Lance shot back.

"You said you won't leave until I change my answer." Pakura pointed out.

"I meant until you change your answer to something opposite." Lance sighed.

"Seriously, Lance, go boil your head." Pakura waved her hand.

"I rather boil pasta for you." Lance remarked.

"I'd prefer you jumping in the Lake of Rage and get eaten by the Gyarados there."

"Well….I'd like to go bungee jumping with you."

'He is going to be a troublesome one. He's acting stupid on purpose.' Pakura thought, but she merely said, "Lance, I know everyone thinks of you as a cool, heroic guy, and I admit, you are very handsome and all, but to me, you are an annoying prick."

"Well my hair is very prickly..." Lance admitted.

'I just knew he would not take no for an answer.' Pakura was seriously getting annoyed, and said out loud, "Besides, you lack a few traits I look for in a boyfriend...that is if I even want any."

"Hey, I'm caring, willing to share chores, a decent cook, loving, and unlike many boys, I can endure long shopping trips, I'm also helpful, and will be always faithful, and I won't run away from responsibilities." Lance listed his potential boyfriend traits.

Meanwhile, the other residents were looking at the intercom with astonishment.

"Did Lance just advertise himself as a boyfriend to Princess Pakura?" Steven's mouth was open. The others nodded in agreement, though Bruno was trying not to laugh. Below them, the entire Johto Gym Leaders were as silent as a grave, too shocked to even respond at Lance's statement.

"Oh my goodness." Wallace was incredulous. "I never heard Lance boast about himself before. Poor Pakura for being his target." Meanwhile, Phoebe was laughing herself silly, along with Glacia. Below them, the entire Hoenn Gym Leaders were laughing their asses off.

Aaron had spat out his food upon hearing Lance list his boyfriend traits. Flint was snickering, apparently enjoying himself. Below them, everyone had stopped eating their lunch, and was also eager to hear what Pakura was going to reply to that.

Shauntal was giggling as well, and thought this would make a good inspiration for her book. Caitlin was eating, seemingly ignoring the proceedings, but is actually listening as well. Marshal and Alder did not know what to say. Below them, the Unova Gym Leaders had paused in their meal to enjoy the show.

The PAL Elites and their love interests were also listening to the broadcast.

"Are you going to tell Pakura that she forgot to turn off the mic?" Cynthia asked her boyfriend.

"Nah. This is a good thing." Ash replied.

"I don't know what Lance is thinking." Jude was looking up at the intercom, halfway through grooming his Vaporeon. He was already done with lunch, and was now using Pakura's grooming supplies to groom his Pokémon. "Does he know everyone can hear him?"

"Apparently, he doesn't." Phillip replied, as Jasmine took a steak from his plate.

"I already have all those traits." Pakura replied nonchalantly through the intercom.

"I know, but sometimes you need a companion don't you think?" Lance asked.

"Also, Shiki says you are bad at cooking." Pakura remarked.

"That's actually true." Clair commented from the Johto Gym Leader's floor, and the others laughed. "But still, what she said just confirmed she knows Shiki. She said his name in that statement."

"I've improved over time!" Lance protested over Pakura's comment.

"Sure..." Pakura sounded sceptical. "But I rather not fall sick over some cooking."

"Still!" Lance cried.

"Find someone else to harass." Pakura yawned.

"I'm not harassing you, and you are the only person I want to be with." Lance shook his head.

"He only met her for barely a week." Lorelei was puzzled, as she and her fellow Elites looked at one another. "Why did he just imply he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her?"

"I guess it's the same reason why Rosaline started dating Grimsley." Karen shrugged.

"He really has been acting weird since he came here." Will frowned.

"I actually have a dating candidate in my mind, like Lance." Karen remarked, and everyone looked at her, eyes wide, just as Pakura said, "Feeling is not mutual. So no."

"You know...that may change if you give me a chance." Lance persuaded.

"Weird…a few days ago, we were the ones asking Lance to give her a chance and be civil to her, and he vehemently refused. Now he's begging her to give him a chance to date her?" Bruno was scratching his head, somewhat confused.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I didn't detect any psychic power on him, I'd have thought he was brainwashed." Will muttered.

"Face it we don't like each other you made it clear from day one." Pakura mumbled.

"That has since changed." Lance insisted.

"Not for me. I still hate you. Furthermore, I seem to remember Wallace told me somebody who called me a robot with no feelings whatsoever!"

'Damn, how did Wallace have such an excellent memory he remembered what I said?' Lance thought, swearing to get Wallace for ruining his chances, just as Pakura went on, "You know, even if I have to date someone for business purposes, I certainly won't choose you. I rather choose Steven Stone. After all, he's also the heir to the Devon Corporation, or perhaps even Wallace, because at least he won't lie to me."

The two mentioned Champions started at their names being mentioned when Pakura stated who she'd rather date.

"Wow, Steven, I never knew you were her type." Karen nudged him.

"I think she was saying hypothetically." Steven frowned. "But I'm flattered she'd choose me. Alas, she's way out of my League."

The Hoenn Elites were laughing at Wallace, which he replied, "I admit, because of her beauty, she attracted a considerable amount of male attention, including mine. But I see her as a good friend."

Lance was affronted. Why did she compare him to Steven and Wallace?

"Anyway, you said you'd date me when Grumpigs fly, so I'll say the same thing back." Pakura said.

"Again if you give me a chance your opinion might change." Lance replied.

Pakura wished she could use her abilities on Lance right now, or use her psychic powers to control him, but everyone was listening to the broadcast, and it was already known to them that Shiki was her fiancé. If Clair told them he was from Blackthorn City and she uses her psychic powers, she'd be exposed as the Dragon Princess in five seconds flat, and everyone would know who the members of the Dragon Duo were.

Not that she cared if her status as the former member of the Dragon Duo is out, she simply had a feeling she won't get any peace at all. Also, if she had used her abilities on Lance, she'd be charged for assault. Although she is a Hunter, Lance is still a guest, and a very influential one at that. She'd most likely land in the hospital again, with Akira analysing her about her need to lash out at people without thinking. She didn't want to have Akira talking about how fortunate she is to have people who want to help her, and how she should be lucky she hasn't lost her positions. (If she had to hear that one more time…)

Pakura wondered if Lance ever got an Egg case thrown to his head before, but she couldn't hurt the little one that was inside the Egg. A light bulb turned itself on at her head. With her telekinesis, she lifted Lance, and threw him out the window, slamming it behind her. Now she is free to prepare for her lunch with Queen Ilene, and as she closed the control room door behind her, she realized Lance had somehow climbed up the window, and is using a laser to cut the window open.

When Lance got outside, he realized that the PAL Elites' floor seemed empty, although he knew most of them were there eating lunch. What was more, the quarters seemed dark, as if someone had turned off the lights at night. What was going on?

"You are seriously persistent, aren't you?" Jude appeared in front of him. "How many times had she said no already?"

Lance gulped, as Jude glared at him with his amber eyes.

"No matter. I doubt you would leave the matter like this. In the account that she says yes to the date, you try anything funny to hurt her…" Jude stomped his foot, and sharp aqua needles appeared behind him. "You'll be pierced by these, and I'll make sure you drown."

"Not only that." Rosaline appeared to his right. "I'll burn you to a crisp, and no one would recognize you." A flame appeared at her hands, and Lance's heart was in his mouth. He couldn't imagine what would happen if Rosaline really burns him. "I will know when she says yes to your date. I'm a psychic, remember?"

"You'll also be electrocuted, don't forget." Phillip appeared to his left, and Lance shuddered at the electricity Phillip was emitting from his hands.

"I guess I don't have to say what I'll do." Ash appeared behind him. "After all, you did witness what I can do during my fight with Paku. By the way, Lance, you might be subjected to many jokes from now on."

"Why?" Lance was bewildered.

"Because the conversation you had with Ash and Pakura was broadcasted to the entire Tower." Phillip said bluntly.

"Are you serious?" Lance's eyes widened, as he realized he had embarrassed himself in front of the entire Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champion from all the regions.

"Yeah, I'm sure the others must be having a good laugh now." Rosaline said. "Seriously Lance, you are an epic fail at asking people out on a date."

"Great." Lance muttered, knowing he was going to be publicly ridiculed and humiliated for is attempts at asking Pakura out. Then again, Lance shouldn't expect anything normal when dating a PAL Elite, especially the Leader, as he had learnt that the PAL Elites are not just competent and popular battlers, they were also experienced killers, no matter what they look like. As Pakura has proven herself to be one of the strongest fighters among the pack and known to be the best assassin the PAL Region ever had, it probably meant that she had killed the most, and is perhaps the most bloodthirsty among them.

It was also clear she was one of the most popular competitors in the tournament itself, as the audience clearly adored her, and she even won over the guests from the other regions, as they themselves couldn't stop talking about her.

No, dating her won't be easy at all, even if he did get her to say yes to the date.

"Ok, so please, tell me where Rota is?" Lance asked.

"It's located in Kanto." Ash said. "It's nearer to the north side."

"Thanks." Lance nodded, and proceeded to head to Kanto.

* * *

"Are you mad at Lance because he is trying to ask Pakura out?" Cynthia asked Ash. Ash had decided to take over her training from Pakura, and was currently teaching her how to wield the sword.

"Oh, my God, I'm not mad at him. I'm worried." Ash replied, as he had demonstrated a one-handed slice that took off a head of a dummy, and gestured for Cynthia to do the same.

"Worried about who?" Cynthia tried to copy Ash's movements, but the sword flew out of her hands, and got stuck in the ceiling. "Opps…"

Ash shook his head, and used telekinesis to retrieve the sword. "I'm more worried about Paku, I guess. I think Lance asked her out on a whim or something, despite him claiming about a promise he made to Shiki. And if Lance suddenly backed out when Paku gets attached to him, she's going to have a total meltdown. And we'd be right back where we started."

"So you don't think Lance was being sincere in his promise?" Cynthia asked, as she tried to slice a dummy head off, but only succeeded in shredding the skin of the dummy.

"Cynthia, he does not know the true meaning of what danger is. I mean, that sounds bad, but whatever. I know he does all the G-men missions and stuff that are life-risking, but what he does is child's play compared to our missions. He was attracted to Paku as the Dragon Princess, and he stuck to her only because of his promise to Shiki. I know he genuinely wants to help Paku, but I am not sure if he actually like her for who she is or he liked the Dragon Princess front she put up, and wished to see it again?" Ash was unsure, as Cynthia swung her sword.

"But the crazy thing is that is really should be Shiki, but it would never be because he already died." Cynthia concluded, as she somehow managed to slice the dummy's head off while talking to Ash.

"Yes. My opinion is that she should have married Shiki like it was planned." Ash agreed. "That way, she would be able to face whatever is in store for her, because she has him."

"I don't know. I also worry for Lance. I mean, Pakura isn't exactly the type to open up to people, I don't think she'll make it easy for him to help her. It's like she froze her own heart." Cynthia sighed.

"Maybe she did." Ash commented. "Try to understand her a bit. We all know that she would feeling devastated, because of Shiki's death. Ok, hypothetically speaking, if Paku falls for Lance, she'd feel confused because she loved Shiki and then she liked Lance, and she might not be able to work out who she likes best. Then she'll be feeling guilty, thinking it's an insult to Shiki to even date Lance at all, and most likely won't be able to work out what her feelings are towards him, because Lance is Shiki's best friend, so it'll be very mixed up and painful."

"How did you know all these? Cynthia asked, putting her sword down, as another dummy head fell silently to the ground.

"I spent a lot of time with her…I'm bound to pick up some tricks." Ash shook his head. "She may seem to be the calmest and most level-headed among us, but buried under that personality is someone with a lot of hurt. Paku has an inability to understand familial love, due to the fact that she never experienced what familial love really is herself, most likely because she was not born out of love, but out of lust from her promiscuous mother. The closest she had was Shiki, or perhaps even her pseudo-brother Jude, but that was almost a poor substitute for what real family love is. Maybe that is why she became extremely independent after Shiki died, and eventually saw us as playing pieces in her game."

"You really understand her." Cynthia remarked.

"I saw her as my best friend, and I deduced all these from what I saw from her past. To be honest, if not for the fact that I had loved you even back then and wanted to date you, I'd have fallen for her."

"I'm so lucky to have you, huh?" Cynthia said coyly, as she pinched his cheek affectionately. She pounced on him, and Ash caught her. However, Ash slipped, but luckily, he used telekinesis to cushion their fall, and they had their first kiss in days. Ash noted how much he missed this, with all that was happening at the moment.

But for now, he'll enjoy it.

* * *

Pakura wandered around Natus City, which was nicknamed "The City of Music." This city loves music and worships the Meloetta, the Melody Pokémon. Ran's Gym was located here, and trainers can battle her for one part of the Earth Symbol. In fact, they also have a Move Tutor here who only teaches Sound-based moves to Pokémon.

She was carrying her Pokémon Egg, feeling somewhat lost. As in, not direction wise, but about what she was going to do next. The others probably expected her to get on with her duties and stuff, but she felt no motivation, even with the fact that she knew the others would have her back.

Perhaps they are watching her now, since Ash had assigned watch duties to the others. Ash would watch her in the morning. Phillip in the afternoon. Jude at night. They did not assign Rosaline any watch shift because of the hate she harboured towards her. She lowered her black cap. The said cap once belonged to Shiki that he wore when the day is really hot, but she now wore for security purposes. The assurance that everything would be fine….right?

"**Are you alright?" **Her Espeon asked. He was walking at the left side of her, and his mate Sylveon on the right. She had returned her Eevee and Skitty to their Pokéballs, not wanting too much company.

"I'm fine." Pakura mumbled. She was somewhat miffed by Lance following her to her lunch with Queen Ilene. Much to her chagrin, the Queen welcomed him, remarking not many Champions come to visit her. During lunch, she had to hear the Queen going on about how perfect they look together, which almost makes her want to puke, but Lance seemed flattered, and thanked the Queen. Also, to make things worse, Queen Ilene asked to be invited to the wedding should they get married, and Lance agreed. She certainly wasn't looking for a husband, and even if she was, she won't pick him.

After lunch, Lance had attempted to ask her out again, and Pakura said yes so that he'd go away and allow her to come to this city alone. He told her he'd pick her up at six, and rushed off, presumable to train his Pokémon for the Top 8. Arceus knows he needs it, since his next opponent was her.

"**You'll have to put yourself together. The Top 8 is tomorrow." **Sylveon reminded her.

Pakura did not mention she was planning on forfeiting tomorrow. She was going to let Lance win the match by default, and move on to the Top 4. Because if she was forced to fight, she'd give it her all, and Lance won't win. Besides, she doesn't have any will to battle. She planned it to be a surprise, though, so she'll bring her Pokémon to deflect suspicion.

"**Doesn't she have a date tonight?" **Espeon asked, flicking his tail.

"**It's Lance's problem if he can't handle her." **Sylveon shrugged.

The next thing Pakura knew was she somehow ended up in the Melody Temple, a shrine that worshipped the Melody Pokémon. Legend says that Meloetta's song can counter the effects of the Sonata Sötétség, a piece of music that was said to have inspired the move Perish Song. The Sonata Sötétség has solo parts for the piano, violin, harp and flute. Those who heard any of the solo parts are said to get supernaturally keen hearing, but at a very heavy price, and those who played it would die a gruesome death.

There was a secret room up there that contained an altar dedicated to Meloetta (which contained a statue of it in the midst of singing), and an organ right in front of the altar as well. On top of the organ was a Poké Flute that they can play music from, but was not allowed to take from the Melody Temple.

The people in Natus City knew that Meloetta could replicate melodies. Not just a few notes, but whole pieces with multiple compositions, or even whole songs with multiple verses. They also believed that if one has the patience to play an entire piece with an instrument or sing an entire songs and Meloetta liked the piece of music one is playing or the voice of the person, it can be heard singing the melody alongside the person.

She had visited this city before a few times with Shiki, where she heard Meloetta sing along with them. She also heard a faint giggle echoing through the room itself, but Shiki didn't hear it, so she dismissed it. Another time was after Shiki's death, where she wandered into this place, and played a mournful piece with the organ provided. She never finished the piece, though, as halfway through, she started crying, as all she wanted was her fiancé back.

A shiny Meloetta had appeared in front of her, and patted her on the head in an attempt to comfort her. At first, she thought it was her Sylveon, but when she looked up to see this strange Pokémon, she jumped back, trembling, as she was without Shiki for protection. She recognized her as Shiki's Meloetta, knowing Shiki had caught it before, but decided to release it, as it deserved to be free, and listen to the future beautiful music one may provide when they visit the Melody Temple.

The Meloetta knew that Shiki had passed all his Pokémon to her to take care of her, and she decided to come along with her, and had already decided that the Dragon Duo had given the most beautiful music for it to hear among all others.

Her reminiscence had ended when someone shouted, "Hey, you!"

Pakura and her Pokémon turned to see a teenaged trainer with dark brown hair, and wearing a black jacket with red trimmings, and dark grey pants.

"What are you doing here? This is a sacred place for the Legendary Pokémon Meloetta." Pakura muttered, looking down at her Egg.

"I want to know when Meloetta would appear so I can catch it." The boy puffed his chest out. "I have been playing music for it to appear like those people said, but it never did."

"Ok, let me hear it." Pakura said, and the boy obliged. Next second, Pakura found herself covering her ears. The boy's skills at the organ was terrible!

"Your playing sucks." Pakura said bluntly. "Seriously, someone like you who only hope to gain a Legendary Pokémon for power would never have Meloetta appear to you."

"You got a big-mouth. I'd like a Pokémon battle with your Pokémon against my Fire Warriors." The boy challenged.

'Must have a preference for Fire-type Pokémon.' Pakura thought. 'Wait….Fire Warriors? Ash did tell me something about a trainer who called his Fire-Pokémon that…' She tried to remember what Ash told her about that trainer.

"I am not in a mood to battle right now." Pakura replied.

"Oh, come on, it won't hurt right?" the boy insisted.

"Like I said, I do not feel like battling." Pakura sighed, then suddenly remembered that he was the one who abandoned Ash's Emboar as a Tepig. What was his name again? Shamus?

"She said she does not feel like battling already." Phillip's voice called out.

'I knew I was being watched.' Pakura thought, as she sensed him walking into the room. The darkness of the room was enough to conceal Phillip's identity.

"Oh, so you'll take me on?" Shamus asked.

"Yes, I'll take you on in her place." Phillip said calmly.

"Then if I win, I take your Pokémon." Shamus declared. "And that Egg the girl is carrying!"

'Leave me out of this, geez.' Pakura thought.

"But if you lose, your life is forfeit, then." Phillip answered, and Shamus nodded. As if the temple heard them, the carpeted floor disappeared, to be replaced by a battlefield.

"It'll be a Double Battle. Emboar, Flareon, show time!" The Pokéballs opened to reveal the final form of Tepig and the Fire-type Eeveelution. Pakura's eyes honed in on the female Fire-type Eeveelution, and saw some whip scars on her body. Just how hard did he train her, and where did those whip marks come from? And was it just her, or did Flareon look thinner than the typical one? It was the same for Emboar, and she clenched her fists. This guy does abuse his Pokémon too, and also abandons weak ones, according to Ash. The Pokémon must have trained really hard so that this Shamus won't throw them out!

"Mawile, Luxray, please, I need your help!" Phillip sent out his two choices.

"A Mega Stone?" Shamus looked at Mawile's Mega Stone greedily. "I want that as well when I win."

"If you win, that is. Well, boy, you may have the first move." Phillip said.

"It's Shamus, but thanks." Shamus replied, and called out, "Flareon, use Heat Wave on Mawile! And Emboar, use Earthquake!"

"Too easy. Mawile, counter with Flamethrower, and then use Flame Charge. Luxray, use Magnet Rise, and then use Rain Dance."

Mawile was able to keep up with Flareon's Heat Wave with Flamethrower, and Luxray dodged the Earthquake effectively with the Magnet Rise. After that, he created clouds, and suddenly, it began to rain.

"Darn it!" Shamus was surprised his opponent's Pokémon knew Rain Dance.

"What would you do now?" Phillip snickered. He wasn't just behind Pakura in ranking for nothing. "Mawile, use Shadow Ball! Luxray, Signal Beam!"

"Flareon, use Hyper Voice, and Emboar, use Hammer Arm!"

The Hyper Voice managed to slow down, but not stop Shadow Ball, and it hit Flareon with a lot of force, and the Signal Beam dissipated with Hammer Arm, but Phillip called out a Thunder. Due to Rain Dance, Thunder did not miss, and Emboar took the full brunt of Thunder. When the move ended, Emboar was hardly standing. The sparks emitting from Emboar indicated it was paralyzed.

"Flareon, use Heal Bell!" Shamus shouted.

"Not bad, your Flareon knows that move." Phillip nodded in approval. "But...Luxray, finish Emboar off with Thunder Fang." Luxray ran towards Emboar, and bit it, shocking Emboar, finishing it off. Phillip knew due to Rain Dance, the water soaking them lowered their resistance to electricity. It's basic stuff, but he's surprised at how many people forget that.

Meanwhile, the rain worsened Flareon's previous wounds, and she was hardly standing as well.

"Get up, Flareon!" Shamus ordered, as Flareon was shivering under the cold, before fainting. Phillip was looking around for Pakura, only to see she was cowering under the Meloetta statue, as she was scared of the water. When he saw that, he immediately called for a Sunny Day. The Sunny Day replaced the Rain Dance, and Pakura's trembling stopped enough for her to step out of the shelter the statue provided.

"That's enough." Phillip said, stopping Shamus, as Pakura went to heal the unconscious Flareon and Emboar. "Your Pokémon are not emotionless tools for battle. They have feelings too, and you should treat them like friends, not your slaves!"

"What do you know? Perhaps this is the way they'll get stronger!" Shamus sneered.

"Oh, I know, alright." Phillip said, as he stepped out into the candlelight. Shamus gaped when he realized just who he was battling.

There was a flash of lightning, and a scream.

* * *

"I'm seriously pooped from training. First he makes me wield the sword. Then he quizzes me on how each weapons is supposed to be wielded, and hit me on the head for wrong answers. After that, he gave me lunch, sure, but he told me to finish within half an hour, and then after that, he trains me on that horrible gauntlet again, and he really hits harder than Pakura. Not only that, he got me to send out my Pokémon, and boy, was his Pokémon monsters! He made them train their speed and power by telling his Pokémon to shoot projectiles at mine, and mine had to dodge or hit without using any moves!

Seriously, I am an ordinary regional Champion, and I won't be like the PAL Elites, as much as I hate to admit it." Cynthia sighed. She was ranting to her new Sylveon, who had a ribbon around her arm in concern.

Pakura was coming out of her bedroom, putting the last touches on her date wear when Cynthia was ranting. She was dressed in a black Chip &amp; Pepper jeans and her pink and black Alice + Olivia sequinned top with a purple motorcycle jacket. This was the outfit she mentioned she had picked up at a fashion show last month. Pakura had combed her hair back to put it up in a light pink headband. Her long hair was loose and all over the place, and she looked really great. Cynthia had heard that Lance somehow secured a date with her, and inwardly applauded him for his persistence without having her kill him.

"Cynthia." Pakura said, as she fastened on an earring. "There are dangers when it comes to dating us, and you know it."

"Is it that bad?" Cynthia asked.

"He's trying to prepare you so you can defend yourself. What if someone tries to kidnap you when you are alone and Ash isn't there to save you? At least that way you can fight him off. I think Ash would give you a weapon to carry later." Pakura said patiently.

"He's like a slave driver." Cynthia muttered.

"But you love him. Also, we don't have much time here, so he has to make best of the time he has." Pakura pointed out.

"Alright, you have a point." Cynthia smiled, just as Pakura glanced at the clock, and said, "Ugh, time to face my doom."

"Don't you mean date?" Cynthia was puzzled and amused at the same time.

"No, my doom." Pakura said. "The only reason why I dress like this is because I'm the regional Princess, otherwise I'd have just put on some rubbish bag and be done with it. What would Ash say if the news catches wind of me dressing like a garbage bin? He'd have a fit, and I'd be back in the hospital with Akira as the therapist. Speaking of which, what do you suggest I do with this one?" She pointed to a Flareon that was hiding behind her legs. The Flareon had been following her around ever since she regained consciousness at the Pokémon Center.

After Phillip had killed Shamus, they had taken his Pokémon to the Pokémon Center. Thanks to Pakura's healing powers, they were discharged quickly. They decided to leave the Pokémon at the Pound, which was a place where lots of Pokémon were waiting for a new home. It is usually is filled with thousands of abandoned Pokémon that are waiting for a new owner to take care of them. As trained Pokémon don't really sit well in the wild, that is why the Pound was built, where the caretakers could take care of the Pokémon until someone comes along to adopt them.

Pakura hated that place. Whenever she sees the owners about to abandon their Pokémon for various reasons, she could always hear the Pokémon crying, begging for their owner not to leave them. Their cries always reminded her of the time she wailed for her mother not to leave her to Team Rocket, but was coldly dismissed. That was why she vowed to herself, she would never leave any of her Pokémon here.

And then Flareon refused to leave, and was in the verge of tears when the caretakers were about to take her away. Pakura would have cried along with her, but she no longer had the ability to cry anymore. It doesn't stop her from feeling Flareon's distress, though, and she decided to take care of Flareon herself.

Just then, Jude and Ash exited the elevator. They took one look at Pakura and gasped.

"You look awesome." The boys said in unison.

"I know, right?" Cynthia remarked. "I think you should leave Flareon here. Maybe have your Eevee play with her or something."

Pakura shrugged, and let out her Eevee. Eevee yipped happily at being let out.

"Well, Eevee, can I trust you, Espeon and Sylveon to take care of Flareon here? She's a bit jittery from the abuse she suffered at a boy's hands."

"**Of course!" **Eevee said, as she ran up to Flareon, who started, but relaxed when she saw it was Eevee, since she used to be an Eevee as well.

"Anyway, one date won't hurt. It's not as if you become his girlfriend after one date. It's a mutual thing." Ash said to her.

"Ok, whatever, I'm going to dinner. Take care of my Egg." With that, she left for her date with Lance.

* * *

Rosaline remained at the window long after the sun had set, and darkness fell. She knew Pakura had hated her, and perhaps she started hating her ever since she had followed her around on her journey like some lost Growlithe.

As much as Rosaline knows, Pakura doesn't like her. She never did. It was Shiki she wanted as the Psychic specialist, and she made matters worse by forcing her to give her a third chance after she lost to Jude and Pakura herself, and not relenting even when Phillip stiffly told her about the Hunter requirement. Rosaline knew Pakura threw her the challenge, hoping she'd die. Yet she saved her from Benzene, and erased her memories to protect her, as the less she knew, the better.

And she had to blow it again, by exploring her room out of curiosity after finding her ring. Her stupid curiosity nearly killed her and her Elites, and further drove Pakura away from her. Ash didn't even put her on rotation for watching Pakura, which hurt her, but understood the reason why. She had promised the others that she would do everything she can to stay strong for them, and now, she swore to herself to do all she can to keep Pakura alive and happy….but how to do that, when Pakura glares at her every time she sees her?

What was worse is that, after they had lunch, Pakura had cornered her. Pakura had decided her ring was the cause of all the problems, and she had ripped the ring from Rosaline's neck, crushing it into pieces with her aura before her eyes. Of course, she doesn't care it was a good luck charm from her parents. Jude and Phillip weren't happy about her actions either, but they agreed it's much better if Pakura vented her emotions on them rather than bottling them up.

"_Put it this way, Rosaline." Jude said later. "Benzene destroyed her music box in front of her, now you know how she feels. Take it as an empathy lesson. Now she can't say you lack empathy." _

"_But….how do you repair this ring?" Rosaline sobbed, looking at the fragments that was her favourite ring. _

"_You're still better off than her, though. After all, your family are all alive, and they can give you more memories to remember by. Paku on the other hand, the only person she ever loved is dead, and all she had left was the mementos Shiki gave her." Phillip reminded her. _

"_I just hope she stops hating us." Rosaline sighed, leaning against the wall. _

"_We left her alone for years. It would be slow, but we'll get there…someday." Jude placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly. _

"It'll be ok, Rosaline." Grimsley said solemnly from behind her, snapping her out of her thoughts. "I'm sure she'll stay strong for the sake of her Pokémon. All we can do now is prevent her from taking her own life to be with Shiki again."

Rosaline nodded, and went straight to her room. She sat on the bed, thinking. She thought she was a sincere person, but Pakura had said and proved otherwise. The inability to empathize with her own Elites was one fact. She was the only one with a normal childhood, therefore she never knew what a loss truly feels like, and she took what she had for granted, which led Pakura's hatred to deepen.

Even the nightmares that Pakura implanted to her in exchange for her close-guarded secret was only a little help. Things seemed clear in her head when nothing dangerous happens, as if she could take on whatever was coming for them, but when it really came, she realized she was ill-prepared.

Too heartsick to cry, all Rosaline wanted was to curl up on the bed and sleep until the Top 8 tomorrow morning. She must have acted like she deserved everything she had, when it was not the case. After all, she was the one who applied without being a Hunter, and depended on her Gardevoir to fight Jude, which was highly criticized by the others as she had depended on type advantages. Despite this, Rosaline made them give her more chances, which was against their policy, and probably made them think she thought she was above their rules.

'How much more horrible can I get?' Rosaline thought miserably.

By the time Grimsley knocked on her door to call her to dinner, she's empty. But the lightness isn't entirely unwelcome. All of them except Pakura, Phillip and Jasmine were already seated around the table.

"Rosaline, I already decided." Ash said, and Rosaline paused in her fish and chips she had taken from the middle of the table.

"You're going to be assigned the mission in checking out the nightclub, Club Heaven." Ash continued.

"I thought Leader Pakura usually does this kind of missions." Rosaline said.

"That was what she said too, but I think she needs some rest, and her safety is number one now." Ash replied.

"I think it's a good idea." Cynthia said. "So, where's Phillip and Jasmine?"

"Phillip took her out to Taste the Sea, that lakeside restaurant where they can rent boats and row around the lake. It's the most expensive restaurant in Kyolita City." Ash answered. "Anyway, Jude, better eat quickly. It's your watch after all, and if Lance does anything funny to hurt her…you know what to do."

"What? Beat the daylights out of him?" Jude asked, and Ash nodded.

Jude shrugged, and started to shovel down his food like he hadn't eaten for days. In five minutes, he had finished his meal, and got up.

"Well, time for my watch!" He then rushed for the elevator.

Everyone blinked at him. "That was fast." Rosaline said.

"Well, I guess he didn't want anything to happen to her before he gets there." Ash replied, as they continued their dinner.

* * *

Jude sat atop a tree, equipped with a binoculars. The good thing was it was dark out, and he can make use of it to conceal himself. He had gotten the name of the restaurant that Lance was taking Pakura to by getting Rosaline to read Lance's mind. Jude knew it was an underhanded move, but how else was he able to watch out for Pakura? Besides, it wasn't as if he was going to interrupt, he would only intervene if things got out of hand.

'Well, Lance does have taste.' Jude noted that the restaurant was really high-class, as he knew this restaurant required reservations, and even then, the reservations were expensive. The atmosphere were also somewhat romantic as well, though Jude doubted Pakura would appreciate it, as she wasn't really over her fiancé's death, the only person she ever loved.

Jude scowled as he realized that the traitors were in there having dinner as well, and it was clear they were staring at Lance and Pakura, and making comments. Jude just knew Cilan probably made use of his A-Class Pokémon Connoisseur and Gym Leader status to get enough money to even have dinner in that restaurant.

Pakura kept her poker face, although Jude knew Pakura must be somewhat annoyed, though she was ignoring them. Lance on the other hand, was flushed and happy (and Jude didn't have to be a mind reader to know why: He was on a date with the girl he likes, and what was more, Pakura said yes to the date, so he probably thought he couldn't believe his luck), and attempting to have a conversation with her, which she only answered with one or two word answers. The waiter came with their orders, and Jude saw that Pakura had ordered filet mignon, and Lance ordered baked pasta.

Jude watched as Lance was attempting to cheer Pakura, as she didn't look like she was having any fun at the date. Jude wondered if Lance felt inferior, as the way Pakura ate her food was really elegant and delicate.

But he wondered, would Lance give up his leadership of his Clan in order to be with her? It seemed unlikely Pakura would deign to see his Clan members, not after how they had treated her. Jude thought she might have missed some of them as they might not be in Blackthorn at the time of the massacre. If they were to get married, chances are Pakura would be a member of that Dragon Clan again. And that was one thing Pakura would never go for. Pakura must've known this too, which was why she mentioned she planned to decline another date after this one.

Jude watched as a waiter with ugly green hair came along carrying this enormous tray of soup bowls full of piping hot soup. He pretended to trip, and much to his horror, the soup bowls were flying towards Pakura. She didn't seem fazed though, and merely used a barrier to shield herself. The soup bowls bounced, spilling soup in the process, and most of it landed on May, much to her mortification.

It became chaos inside, as May started yelling at the waiter, and the manager came and started scolding the waiter as well, while the waiter claimed that someone had tripped him. Pakura meanwhile, was calmly eating her meal, and Lance was trying not to laugh at the sight of May covered in soup, and the chaos that ensured.

After dinner, Jude watched as Lance paid for the food, and left the restaurant. Lance realized he forgot his wallet, and told Pakura to wait while he went back to the restaurant to get it. Pakura nodded, and sat on a bench. Jude noticed she looked distinctly disturbed by something. Almost as if she wanted to have an emotional breakdown, but couldn't.

'Did it have something to do with going to the Pound to drop off the Pokémon this afternoon?' Jude thought.

Just then, Jude was alerted by a presence approaching Pakura, and he saw the waiter from earlier angrily stomping towards Pakura. She must have sensed him, for she turned to face him.

"Can I help you?" Pakura asked, schooling her features to an expressionless one.

"Yes." The waiter said in a high-pitched voice. "How dare you! Lance was mine, and you…seduced him into going on a date with you!"

Jude vaguely remembered Ash mentioning Mari and Mami, the two cheap entertainers from the Club Heaven. He did say that they were infatuated with one of the male Champions. It looked like the male Champion in question was Lance.

"I don't want to go on that date, either. But he forced me to." Pakura sighed.

"I don't care!" Mari shouted. "You have to pay for stealing my man!"

"What makes you think he'd go for you, anyway?" Pakura asked, yawning.

"Well, I wear vintage clothes, I am a very famous singer, and I am good-looking! Who won't like me?" Mari showed himself off.

'He's delusional.' Jude thought, disgusted.

"Yeah, whatever. But Lance has better taste than you." Pakura looked Mari up and down.

"Why you-!" Mari took out a knife from his skirt pocket, and charged towards Pakura. Pakura simply created an icicle of ice around her hand, and sliced at Mari's throat, decapitating him.

"Seriously…why do I have to deal with this? Aren't dates supposed to be relaxing?" Pakura muttered, looking at the blood that had splattered on her clothes, just as Lance came out.

"I'm sorry, I needed the toilet, so I made a detour, and…Hey! Where're you going?" He shouted as Pakura stormed off.

"That was the worst date ever!" Pakura yelled back. "I'm not going on a date with you again!" With that, she teleported away.

Lance was about to go back to the Tower after her, but Jude jumped down from his tree, and said, "It's best if you left her alone."

"Why?" Lance demanded.

"Because some cheap entertainer called Mari harassed her. You know the waiter that tripped? He was trying to spill soup on Pakura and make it look accidental because you were on the date with her, and Mari thinks it should be him that was on the date with you."

"What? Eww..." Lance looked disgusted.

"And you know dates are supposed to be relaxing, so she is mad that she had to kill during the date she went for the first time since Shiki died, since she does that as part of her work." Jude laughed. "So, that incident with Mari sealed all chances you have for a second date." He didn't mention that Pakura already planned not to go on a second date with him.

Lance groaned. He was hoping she'd enjoy the date and he could take her out again. What was he going to do? Then, a thought occurred to him.

"Wait, what are you doing here?" Lance pointed to Jude.

"It's my turn to watch Pakura. I was told to beat you up if you made her upset in any way." Jude shrugged. "Well, night, Lance. Good luck for your match tomorrow." With that, he left for the Tower, giving a single wave to Lance. It's time to report back to Ash of tonight's events.

* * *

Pakura's eyes reflected the dim glow of the nightlight over the door. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, with Eevee snuggling in an extra pillow. Ever since Eevee was caught, she had refused to sleep on the baskets Pakura had provided for them, instead asking if she could sleep on the bed. At first, Pakura refused, but in the middle of the night, she'd sneak onto the bed anyway, so Pakura finally gave up and let Eevee sleep on the bed.

Pakura had finally accepted that it would be a wakeful night, and tiptoed across the carpeted floor to the treasure chest. She unlocked it, and rummaged through the items, until she found Shiki's gold locket that contained the picture of them when they were officially crowned the Dragon Duo. Her Sylveon as an Eevee were being carried by her, and Shiki's Garchomp was behind him. She closed the treasure chest, and placed Shiki's locket in her pocket.

Shiki…the only light in her life, and the only one that was there by her when times got to their worst. Phillip, Jude and Ash were nice enough, alright, but Pakura hated Rosaline. Who did she think she was, begging for another chance to get in the Elite Four, when an applicant is supposed to have one chance only? Why did she go soft and agree to give her another chance? Pakura's dislike only deepened when Rosaline had the guts to search her room. Couldn't she just get her stupid ring and get out at the very least? But no, she just had to satisfy her curiosity, and explore her room.

She frowned, as she wondered where her sketchbook was, and realized Ash never returned it to her.

"**Paku?" **Sylveon whispered. She was awake, peering at her through the darkness. **"What's wrong?"**

"Nothing. Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep." Pakura said curtly. Sylveon roused, and came to sit beside her, wrapping two ribbons around her arm.

"**You can tell me, you know. I have been with you through thick and thin." **Sylveon coaxed.

"I don't know, Sylveon. I don't know why I still hate them after they helped me." Pakura sighed, looking at her Egg. "Rosaline, especially, for exploring my room. Thanks to that meddling idiot, my secrets are all out. I just want to get out of this life. Things were never the same after he left. I just have this desire to see them all punished. But I don't know how without interfering with their daily lives and duties."

Sylveon thought this over. **"Paku, I don't think you understand how important you are to the region. To them. Important people usually get what they want. If you want to punish those three without interfering with their daily lives, you can."**

Pakura guessed she was important. They went through a lot of trouble to save her from her nightmares.

"You mean…I could demand for more punishment? And even Ash has to agree?" Pakura asked.

"**I think you could demand almost anything and they have to agree to it." **Sylveon said.** "They would understand. After all, they knew what you been through, and would do anything to please you, and make sure you do not carry out your original plan. At this point, you can even ask for the moon and they'll have to find some way to get it." **

Pakura considered this, and nodded. "Thanks Sylveon. I'll be going out to the living room for a bit."

"**I'll come with you." **Sylveon said, and they left their room. Pakura was expecting everyone to be asleep, so imagine her surprise when she saw Ash sitting on the living room couch, doing paperwork.

Ash looked up when he saw her. "I expected you." He said quietly.

Pakura took the papers strewn on the table, and said, "Hey, these are my paperwork!"

"Like I said, you need rest. So we're splitting your Elite duties between the four of us." Ash sighed. "You look like you want something."

Pakura had to applaud Ash. Ever since he had witnessed what was going on in her head, he has become more perspective of her, despite the fact that her face or eyes did not show anything.

"Yes, I do want something. I want more punishment for the other three." Pakura went straight to the point.

Ash groaned. "What for?" He asked, though he did expect it sooner or later. Sylveon was looking from Pakura to Ash curiously, like she was watching a tennis match.

"For going into my room without permission, because I already specifically stated not to go into my room from the very beginning. You have to admit that even if Rosaline did go into my room to get her ring, she should just get it and get out, and not linger there and explore. You may think the nightmares and injuries were punishment enough, but I have already healed them of their injuries out of obligation. So I want an alternative punishment for their physical injuries." Pakura said, her voice full and resonant. "You better think of a way to punish them without interfering with their daily lives and their duties, or you'll find yourself another Leader and another regional Princess!"

Her words hung in the air for a moment, as Ash inwardly tallied the cost of her ultimatum, before he said, "All right. I'll think of a way to punish those three to satisfy you. Just don't attempt to take your own life." He knew Pakura had a point, since they did break the rules.

"I won't for the time being, as long as you keep to your end of the agreement." Pakura said. "Otherwise, I won't want to lead a bunch of morons who doesn't know how to follow a simple rule. I want this to be a lesson as to what happens if they disobey the rules."

Ash inwardly sighed. He knew that Pakura is totally rigid in the punishment department, and wondered if it was because she grew up bring punished all the time (most of the time for no reason at all) thanks to her parents and Team Rocket or because she was the only one punished for losing to him all two years ago. 'I am almost certain Shiki is watching us from the Hall of Origins, and can take her away from us anytime if we ever back down on our promise to save her and make her happy in this life.'

"Is there anything else?" Ash asked, and Pakura shook her head, indicating she doesn't have any more requests at the moment.

'At least she doesn't ask for much.' Ash inwardly thanked Arceus. 'Although I am sure she is bound to have more demands in the future, I am sure she won't overwhelm us with requests. She's not the type to do that.'

* * *

The next morning, at breakfast, Ash watched as Pakura tried to enjoy the food, while the others around her chatted excitedly about the Top 8, which was happening today. The kitchen staff clearly wanted to please her, as they had prepared her favourites such as chicken pattie, scrambled eggs, and potato wedges. A pot of steaming hot chocolate was even waiting for her at the table. So she ate a fair amount, and the meal was beyond reproach, but she can't say she enjoyed it a lot.

"Alright, there is an announcement I'd like to make." Ash said, as they were eating. Everyone turned to him, and he went on, "Jude, you'll have to swap shifts with me on some days. I'll inform you when we'll swap."

"Why?" Jude was puzzled.

"Because all three of you would have to sleep in the dungeon." Ash replied bluntly. "In the days where Paku decides I have to throw you into the dungeon, you'll be sent there after dinner."

"Wait, why?" Phillip was shocked.

"Because you broke the rules by going to Paku's room, and she wants punishment, despite the fact that I said the nightmares were punishment enough." Ash shrugged. _I say it's best to cater to her wants for now_ was left unspoken, but they understood all the same.

'Oh man, the dungeon's a scary place.' Rosaline thought, shuddering at the number of times Pakura threw her in there due to sheer irritation.

"But don't worry, I would let you out in the morning, and bring you back here via teleportation." Ash reassured them.

"How long would this last?" Grimsley asked evenly.

"Indefinitely, until I say the punishment would end. However, I will tell Ash of my decision on which nights I would send them to the dungeon." Pakura informed him. "All their duties would be concluded by evening in the days when I want to send them in the dungeon. I figured it's fun that way, as this way, I also cut down their opportunities to spend time with their love interests."

Pakura heard the dissent among her tablemates, and a few, such as Grimsley, even shot her angry looks, though she was unfazed.

However, everyone at the table knew that they could not blame her for any of her current actions, because she had been twisted to the point she became cold and aloof, and having little regard for the consequences or even human life in general, which included her own.

'Pakura is seriously the most complicated person I ever met.' Jasmine thought.

The life has gone out of the conversation, as people pretended to eat, not really having an appetite anymore. Only Pakura seemed unaffected, as she started on her cup of hot chocolate.

"By the way, Ash, where's my sketchbook?" Pakura asked, breaking the silence. "The one you took from me from the hospital."

"I showed it to Aquamarine, just so she can appreciate how nice those designs were." Ash said sheepishly. "She got this look in her eye, snatched the sketchbook from me, and told me to leave her boutique, saying something about needing to bring these creations to life."

Pakura twitched. That was the sketchbook Shiki gave her, his very first gift.

"She says she'd give credit to you once she's done with making those dresses." Ash hastily added, seeing the displeased look on Pakura's face, mistaking it for the fact that Aquamarine may take the credit for herself.

'She better not do anything to my sketchbook, or else she'd be out of a job.' Pakura thought, but all she said was, "I expect her to return my sketchbook when she is done. But then again, expectations would surely lead to disappointment." Pakura's laughter rang through the dining room, and everyone shivered as they heard the laughter, as it sounded evil and cold.

* * *

'This is so unfair.' Lance thought, as he sat down with his Johto Elites. As soon as he went in, however, the people who were already there started staring at him, and started whispering and giggling, no doubt about the broadcast stunt he pulled yesterday afternoon.

"So, Lance." Steven said a little too casually. "How was the date?"

"He said some ugly dude confronted her about going on a date with him, and she stormed off after the confrontation ended without listening for an explanation." Karen was laughing as she said it.

"I seem to remember who has a crush on Jude." Lance retorted, and Karen shut up, and that lead to the others gasping.

"That was low, Lance." Phoebe said, though her eyes lit up at the newfound gossip.

"But seriously, you suck at dates." Wallace commented. "Never go to them again."

"I do not suck, so stuff it!" Lance snapped, as he threw himself into his seat. "I think the date went well, except that hideous guy just had to try to attempt to teach her a lesson about dating me. I'm not gay, for Arceus' sake!"

"Nice to know that you are attractive to guys too." Lorelei said sarcastically.

"Please, I doubt he thinks himself as a guy. He was dressing in girl's clothes!" Lance shuddered at the memory.

"Are you going to take her out again?" Clair asked, frowning.

"Of course." Lance looked at her like she was crazy. "It's going to take more than one date for her to accept me."

"Speak of the devil, here comes your girlfriend with her gang." Caitlin said, as the door opened, and sure enough, the PAL Elites along with their respective love interests walked in (except Phillip and Cynthia, as their matches are first). However, Pakura, who was usually bringing up the rear, was suddenly walking in the center of the group, much to the guests' confusion. Since when was she the center of attention among them? And also, since when does she own an Espeon? They knew it was hers because it was practically glued to her leg, and Rosaline's Espeon was trotting beside her trainer.

Before Lance could say anything, Will shouted, "Hey, Pakura!"

Pakura turned to Will. "What?" She asked in an irritated tone.

"How was the date last night?" Will asked, using telekinesis to hold down Lance, who was about to lunge at him and throttle him.

Pakura and Lance made eye contact with each other, before Pakura looked away with a "Hmph." sound.

"Can't blame you. I mean, a waiter trying to spill soup on you, and the people you hate were eating there, and then some egoistic guy trying to pick a fight? I wouldn't want to go through that again." Ash said. Everyone looked at Lance in amusement, as if to ask if that was true.

Lance was about to open his mouth to retort, when Grimsley interrupted with a "We can talk about this later." He was pointing to Ken, who had just gotten his hold on the mic, and saying, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Top 8 for the Pokémon World Championships! After a few days of hiatus due to unfortunate circumstances, the tournament would now continue. Let's commence the first match of the day, Champion Cynthia vs. Elite Phillip!" The crowd cheered, as the platform lifted Phillip and Cynthia into the battlefield.

"This is sure to be one tense match." Ash commented, and the others nodded.

"Trainers, please send out your Pokémon!"

"Alright, Hydregion, battle dance!" Cynthia decided to use her new Hydregion for battle, having trained it for the past few days. Surprisingly, it had a huge pool of movesets, which made it a formidable member in her team. She inwardly thanked Pakura for giving her that Pokémon.

"Bisharp, please, I need your help!" Phillip decided to go for his Sword Blade Pokémon.

"Oh boy, am I psyched!" Jude commented, excited at how this battle would turn out.

"A Dark-type vs a Dark-type is sure to be a heated rivalry between the two." Rosaline nodded.

"But Phillip does have the type advantage, seeing Hydregion is part Dragon and Bisharp is part Steel." Grimsley said thoughtfully. "It's going to be interesting to see how Cynthia can overcome Phillip's battle style."

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

* * *

At the scoreboard, Rosaline was down to her last Pokémon, while Wallace was at his fourth Pokémon. They currently had their Espeon and Luvdisc out respectively. While the other members of the PAL Elite were worried about Rosaline, they weren't surprised as Wallace had the type advantage, and probably studied Rosaline's battle style beforehand. He might even have figured out her pattern.

"Well, even if she lost, there is still you and Paku." Phillip said to Ash. Phillip had also lost his match to Cynthia earlier, however, he did put up quite a fight, as he managed to make her use her Garchomp, and Mega Evolve it.

"That's provided if we win our matches." Ash replied. He knew his next opponent was Sabrina and she was no pushover, even if she was a Gym Leader, as she had the ability to communicate with her Pokémon telepathically, and would most likely use this method to command her Pokémon in her match with him. Just then, Espeon managed to defeat Luvdisc with a Psybeam.

"Luvdisc is unable to battle! Champion Wallace, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"Alright, Milotic, it's your turn!" Champion Wallace sent out his signature Pokémon.

"It's over." Pakura sighed.

"Why? What's wrong, Paku?" Phillip asked.

Pakura opened her mouth to answer, just as Rosaline non-verbally commanded Espeon to use Hyper Voice. Wallace, however, grinned, and told his Milotic to use Disarming Voice, shocking everyone, including Rosaline, greatly.

"How?" Rosaline was astonished.

"Pakura taught me that move." Wallace replied. In the VIP Box, everyone turned to look at Pakura, who shrugged.

"Well, who else could it be?" Jasmine sighed. "She is the Fairy-type specialist." They heard Milotic crying out, as she was burned, but so was Espeon. Wallace had used Scald, which gave Espeon a burn status, but due to her Synchronize ability, Milotic also had the same status.

'Espeon is probably tired by now. I got to end this.' Rosaline thought. 'Espeon, let's use Giga Impact.' Before Wallace could react, Espeon slammed into Milotic, and she slammed against the wall.

"Milotic!" Wallace shouted. "Are you alright?"

Before Milotic could respond, five wormholes appear around her, barraging her with blasts of electrified psychic energy, damaging her further. When the attack ended, Milotic swayed, and collapsed on the battlefield.

However, the damage taken by Espeon has also taken its toll, and she collapsed as well.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle!" Evan announced. "As Elite Rosaline has no more Pokémon left able to battle, the winner is Champion Wallace!"

The audience cheered for the great battle, and Rosaline sighed. She walked over to Espeon, who opened her eyes and was saddened that she couldn't win for her trainer.

"You did your best." Rosaline said. "Have a good rest now." With that, she returned her Espeon to her Pokéball. She got up, and shook hands with Wallace for the battle, before heading back to the VIP Box together.

"Alright, I'm next." Ash got up from his seat.

"Good luck." Cynthia said. "Make sure you beat her."

Ash nodded, as he headed down to the Launch Room, waiting for his cue.

"**Nervous?" **Pikachu asked.

"Yeah. Two of us already lost our battles, only Paku and I are left to battle. Their hopes would be on us to win the championship." Ash replied.

"**You will win." **Lucario said firmly. **"After all, you can link your mind to Sabrina's to find out her next move. It isn't against the rules, so long as you are not hurting her." **

Ash nodded, just as a pleasant female voice told him to step on the platform. Ash did, and as usual, the glass lowered around him, before the platform begin to rise, taking him and his Pokémon with it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third match of the Top 8, where Leader Sabrina and Champion Red would be fighting it out to see who would earn the third spot in the Top 4. Please welcome both participants!"

The audience cheered as they were lifted into the battlefield. Ash saw Sabrina on the other side of the field, her expression unreadable. Just what trick would she have up her sleeve?

"Trainers, please send out your Pokémon." Evan ordered.

"Come out, Gallade." Sabrina threw out her Pokéball, revealing the Blade Pokémon.

"Gardevoir, lend me your aura!" Ash chose the Psychic/Fairy Embrace Pokémon. The two final evolutions of Ralts glared at each other. Apparently, a rivalry had automatically sparked between them as soon as they saw each other.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

Ash closed his eyes, and focused his psychic power to connect with Sabrina's without her noticing. Now he could hear her thoughts, and she was currently wondering whether to go offense or raise her stats, before deciding to go with the latter.

'It's too bad she didn't train on Psychic Shields.' Ash thought. He knew Sabrina cannot hear his thoughts due to his Indomitable Will, which granted him immunity to temptation and even psychic powers.

'Gallade, let's start things off with Swords Dance.' Sabrina commanded mentally. That raised Gallade's Attack stat drastically.

'Alright, why don't we go offense first for a change? Gardevoir, use Magical Leaf.' Ash ordered. Gardevoir nodded, and fired the said move to Gallade.

'Gallade, counter with Psycho Cut.' Both moves clashed in the middle, and exploded. Ash made use of the smoke to mentally tell Gardevoir to use Future Sight. Thanks to the smoke, it wasn't noticed by Sabrina.

'Gardevoir, I think we shouldn't use Mega Evolution yet. We'll wait until Gallade is worn down.' Ash communicated his message through aura, and Gardevoir nodded.

'Gallade, Shadow Ball.' Sabrina ordered, and Gallade shot a very powerful Shadow Ball towards Gardevoir.

'Moonblast!' Ash countered, and Gardevoir shot a pink ball of energy to coutner that Shadow Ball. Not only did the Moonblast blast Shadow Ball apart, it spiralled on to hit Gallade, who staggered backwards.

'Let's use Attract, and see if we can charm that Gallade.' Gardevoir winked, and pink hearts flew out towards Gallade.

'Counter with Close Combat.' Sabrina hastily told Gallade, and he made use of the move to destroy the hearts.

'That is what I wanted. Gardevoir, use Imprison!' Ash resisted the urge to smirk, as letting emotions show would let Sabrina find out what he was planning. As Gallade was distracted destroying the hearts caused by Attract, he was hit by the move, causing Sabrina to inwardly grit her teeth, as Imprison was a move that prevents a target from using the moves that were also known by the user. As the two Pokémon were from the same Ralts evolution line, it's most likely there's more than half the moves Gallade can't use now.

'Gallade, use X-Scissor!' Sabrina thought, putting emotion into the command now. Gallade nodded, and charged towards Gardevoir with the move.

'Ice Punch.' Ash thought, and Gardevoir countered with one hand which contained Ice Punch. 'Oh yeah, Thunder Punch, other hand.'

Gardevoir then proceeded to hit Gallade with Thunder Punch, and surprisingly, Gallade countered with Poison Jab. Ash had to applaud Sabrina's reaction time. The Poison Jab was also overpowering the Thunder Punch.

'Nice, but…Gardevoir, Signal Beam.' Ash thought, and Gardevoir fired the move from her red fin-like horn located on her chest, pushing Gallade back.

'Gallade, Low Sweep.' Sabrina commanded, and Ash countered by asking Gardevoir to use Psychic on herself. However, it was a little too late, as Gardevoir's foot was hit by the Low Sweep. At the same time, he thought it's a good time to Mega Evolve his Pokémon.

"Gardevoir, let our aura become one!" Ash pressed the Key Stone on his Mega Glove, and Gardevoir Mega Evolved into Mega Gardevoir.

'Shadow Ball!' Ash ordered, and Mega Gardevoir shot a barrage of Shadow Balls at Gallade.

'Psycho Cut, and then Rock Tomb.' Sabrina countered, and Gallade used his blades to cut the Shadow Balls. After the Shadow Balls were cut, he used a Rock Tomb, which split into several smaller boulders that surrounded Mega Gardevoir. Mega Gardevoir looked around, trying to find an escape point, but there was none.

'Don't panic. Once Gallade strikes, use Thunderbolt.' Ash thought.

'Now, use Stone Edge.' Sabrina commanded, and Gallade jumped on top of one of the boulders to fire the move. The moment she saw him, Mega Gardevoir countered the move with Thunderbolt.

'Now use Psychic to push Gallade in the center of the rocks, and then Draining Kiss.' Ash thought, knowing this match was his.

Mega Gardevoir pushed Gallade down, which cut his mental communication from Sabrina temporarily, and gave Gallade a Draining Kiss which drained his energy and recovered hers. At the same time, the Future Sight from earlier also came down to strike Gallade, which surprised Sabrina as she didn't see that coming. That did the trick, and Gallade had fainted. However, since everyone couldn't see this, Gardevoir had to use Teleport to get herself and Gallade out of the center of the boulders.

"Gallade is unable to battle! Leader Sabrina, please send out your next Pokémon." Evan commanded.

"Come on out, Espeon." Sabrina said quietly, sending out the Psychic Eeveelution.

"Good job, Gardevoir." Ash returned his Mega Gardevoir, and wondered if he should send out an Eeveelution as well, and shrugged. It couldn't hurt to send out one anyway.

"Sylveon, lend me your aura!" Ash sent out his Fairy-type Eeveelution.

'He owns a Sylveon too?' Sabrina thought. She knew that Sylveon was Pakura's signature Pokémon, but didn't know Sylveon's capabilities, as she hasn't fought anyone with her Sylveon yet. Probably saving her for the harder battles.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

'Espeon, start things off with Dig.' Sabrina commanded.

'An attack from underground? Sylveon, use Toxic, and aim it for the hole.' Ash thought.

Sylveon nodded, and fired the move into the hole, which poisoned Espeon, who came out from the ground. However, Sylveon also started to suffer from the same status condition, as Espeon's ability was Synchronize.

"Good move, but it looks like your Pokémon also suffers." Sabrina called out.

"Oh, I know already." Ash replied. "I did come prepared after all."

Sabrina was puzzled at Ash's remark, and Ash commanded Sylveon to use Refresh. Sylveon's body glowed green, and he was now cured of the poison status.

'What?' Sabrina thought, as Sylveon was now recovered. 'Darn it, Espeon's energy would slowly be drained, as Toxic's poison status would take more energy the longer the battle goes on. I better use Rest when the chance comes up. Espeon, don't panic. Let's use Confusion.' Sylveon found himself being controlled by the Espeon, and was hit by a Swift attack that followed. Sylveon did a backflip so he would land on his feet.

'Not bad.' Ash thought. 'Sylveon, let's use Yawn.' Sylveon nodded, and charged towards Espeon.

'Espeon, use Psybeam.' Sabrina countered. Sylveon gracefully dodged the attack, and executed the commanded move. Espeon found itself drowsy.

'Espeon, use Rest.' Sabrina commanded. Espeon nodded, and fell asleep, recovering its energy and also cured itself of the poison status at the same time.

'Sylveon, Shadow Ball.' As he fired the move, Sabrina called for a Sleep Talk, which turned out to be Psychic. Espeon made use of the move to send it back to Sylveon.

'Iron Tail.' Ash ordered, and Sylveon's tail turned a metallic colour, hitting the Shadow Ball back. 'Follow it up with a Disarming Voice.'

The Disarming Voice increased the Shadow Ball's speed, and Espeon used Sleep Talk once more, which turned out to be Psyshock. The Psychock managed to stop Disarming Voice, but not the Shadow Ball, causing Espeon to be hit. At the same time, Espeon woke up.

'Sylveon, use Double Edge.' Ash thought.

'Espeon, let's use Grass Knot.' The Grass Knot tripped Sylveon, and he fell to the ground.

'Cut the vines with Fairy Wind.' Ash hastily called out with his mind, and Sylveon got up after cutting the vine, shaking his head to clear it.

'Get close to Sylveon, and use Iron Tail.' Sabrina telepathically commanded.

'Alright, Sylveon, grab hold of Espeon with your ribbons.' Sylveon jumped one side, and grabbed hold of Espeon, lifting it up.

'Swing it around.' Ash inwardly grinned, as Sylveon started swinging Espeon around.

* * *

'He is definitely copying me.' Pakura thought, watching the battle.

"No way!" Whitney gasped.

"I didn't know you can fight like this." Candice added.

"A Pokémon battle isn't just about exchanging moves." Cynthia commented. "Knowing your Pokémon's capabilities and making use of them is another way of fighting."

"Champion Red excels at this part." Wallace added, just as Ash said, "I'm not done yet."

Sylveon then fired a powerful Moonblast at Espeon, and as Espeon fell, Sylveon fired a Fairy Wind at him, which caused him to hit the wall. When the smoke cleared, Espeon was down with swirls in its eyes.

"Espeon is unable to battle. Leader Sabrina, please send out your next Pokémon."

"Jynx, come on out."

"Sylveon, good work." Ash returned the Intertwining Pokémon. "Electivire, lend me your aura!" He sent out his shiny Pokémon, which lead people to stare at the Pokémon.

"Battle begin!" Evan declared.

'Jynx, let's start with Mean Look.' Sabrina thought, and Ash frowned when he realized he can't switch out. But why? He was a second too late when Electivire was hit with Perish Song, which means he only had three moves before fainting.

'Crap, I forgot!' Ash thought.

"**Ash, calm down." **Pikachu spoke up. **"You did prepare for these situations when you were training with your traded Pokémon, remember? Don't let the excitement of the battle make you forget what you have learnt and taught them." **

Ash nodded, as he took a deep breath. Sabrina took her chance to call out a Blizzard, which made Electivire shiver, as he waited for Ash's command.

'Electivire, let's use Volt Switch!' Ash ordered. As Jynx came close to Electrivire to hit him with a Heart Stamp. Electivire hit her with a yellow orb of electricity and then returned to his Pokéball.

"It looks like Champion Red has prepared a countermeasure against the Mean Look and Perish Song combination. It was a good move on Leader Sabrina's part, I concede, but Champion Red must have been prepared the moment he saw the Jynx!" Ken commented.

'I wonder what Pokémon I should send out in place.' Ash thought.

'_Oh, Ash, use me for this one, I want to battle.' _The voice said cutely.

'Are you sure, that'd be revealing yourself to the world.' Ash reminded it.

'_They already know you own a few Legendaries anyway.' _The voice replied. _'Use me for this battle, please?' _

'Alright, you got it.' Ash unclipped one of the miniature Luxury Balls, and enlarged it. "Mew, lend me your aura!" The Luxury Ball opened to reveal the adorable New Species Pokémon.

Sabrina was in shock to see the elusive Legendary Psychic Pokémon in front of her. Mew was flying around curiously, and looking at Jynx who was to be its new playmate.

"Well, then, you can have the first move." Ash offered.

'Jynx, use Shadow Ball.' Sabrina commanded.

'Destroy it with Shadow Claw.' Ash countered. Mew nodded, and the Shadow Claw effectively shredded the Shadow Ball into pieces.

'Use Ice Beam.' Sabrina mentally ordered.

'Counter that with Flamethrower.' Ash gave Mew a mental nod, and Mew released a red-orange stream of fire from its mouth towards the Ice Beam. Ash was impressed at the fact that the Ice Beam was able to hold the Flamethrower back for at least fifteen seconds before being pushed back, and Jynx was hit by the super effective move, sending her skidding backwards.

* * *

"Sending Mew out wasn't necessary." Jasmine said, as she watched the heated battle between Leader Sabrina and Champion Ash. "He already got this in the bag, because Sabrina's a Gym Leader. There's no way she would stand a chance against the PAL Champion, even if she can telepathically command her Pokémon. I wish I knew what commands they are giving. The silence is killing me."

"You're right." Rosaline replied. "I bet it was Mew who wanted to battle. The Legendaries are itching to battle themselves as they know the tournament is closer to the Finals already. But seriously, the silence means more suspense, as you won't know what they are planning."

"Well, Sabrina is a powerful opponent, having the ability to command without speaking. That would usually catch the weaker Elites off guard." Phillip added. "After all, Sabrina did take down an Elite Four member herself…right, Marshal?" The said Elite Four member grumbled at his loss, as everyone laughed. They turned back to see Mew fire a Fire Blast at Jynx, which caused the Human Shape Pokémon to faint.

"Jynx is unable to battle. Leader Sabrina, please send out your next Pokémon."

"Metagross, come on out." Sabrina went for the Steel/Psychic type Pokémon.

"Good work, Mew." Ash returned Mew, and wondered who to choose next. He had already used up four slots, and decided to send out Electivire again, as he did not get to battle much during the previous round. "Electivire, lend me your aura again."

"Red is at a disadvantage here." Phillip commented.

"I am sure somehow he'll pull through." Grimsley muttered. "After all, didn't he defeat Rosaline, a Psychic-type specialist during his Elite challenge?"

"_**Rosaline's a second rate psychic if you ask me."**_ Pakura snorted in Chinese. _**"It was pathetic seeing her beg for another chance to prove herself worthy of the Elite position when she lost to Jude. If she is a psychic, then she should know about the Hunter requirement. But no, she just immediately applied for the last spot just because I was inside. Do you know how contemptible that is, having her follow me around like some lost Growlithe? It's cute and all for the first month, but after that it's annoying. She's somebody I can dispose of easily if there is a better candidate for our Elite position." **_

"What did she say?" Grimsley asked Phillip, who was the only one who understood, judging by his expression. The others had puzzled looks on their faces, wondering what Pakura just said.

"It's better you don't know." Phillip replied, but Grimsley insisted. That led Phillip to sigh, and say, "Promise you won't get mad."

Grimsley promised, even though he doubted whatever she said would make him mad. However, his doubts were cleared when Phillip whispered the translation so only the group could hear. He shot Pakura an angry look, as he encircled his arm around Rosaline, who was visibly hurt by her words. The others sitting behind them was wondering what was going on at the front.

"What? The doctor says I'm not supposed to censor my thoughts. It's part of my therapy." Pakura shrugged nonchalantly. "And I said it in Chinese, but you just had to ask for the translation, so blame yourself for your own curiosity. Besides, I'm not insulting her, it's true. Even Jude and Phillip thought that too." She kept her volume low so that others couldn't hear, which was picked up by her fellow members in the group. They decided to follow her example and keep their voices low.

"Unfortunately, she's right. Although Jude is probably more lenient on his opinion." Phillip sighed, and Jude nodded.

"See, I'm not dissing her if what I say is true." Pakura wagged her finger confidently.

Grimsley opened his mouth to retort by was stopped by Rosaline. "Grimsley, we better not counter her. If we displease her, she'll change her type specialty to Psychic, and I'll lose my position, because PAL Elites need to specialize in two types." Rosaline whispered.

"But it's unfair." Grimsley hissed back.

"It's unfair for me, yes, but did you see how unfair the world was to her?" Rosaline replied. "We are also being unfair of the fact that we are keeping her alive instead of letting her take her own life so she can either revive Shiki or be with him. Let her vent her emotions on us. On me. It's better than having her bottle it up and later do something drastic we cannot reverse. We're trying to help her, not push her away."

Grimsley sighed, as he knew that Rosaline was right, that that Rosaline still saw her as a friend. After all, Pakura did demonstrate what appear to be some feelings for Rosaline, making Rosaline her favourite food during the travels, agreeing to accompany her to an art museum and stayed with her in the whole duration although she had no appreciation for art in general, training her in her psychic powers and even giving her access to Mega Evolution, protecting her and her family from Benzene, and other things that made Rosaline genuinely love her.

Jude observed the conversation with mild interest. Rosaline the little girl was definitely gone. The little girl who couldn't bear to take a life, and only did it when she had to, the one who followed Pakura around during their travels and painted her beautiful but fantastical view of the world, and who begged Pakura to stop by shops to buy art supplies and paints for her paintings made from white seashells and asked her to pay if she could not afford it.

Perhaps time had forced her to grow too quickly, but Jude knew it was because she saw how cruel the world can be to a person and witnessed the various tragedies Pakura had been through. She was now a young adult who knew how to appreciate what she has while she still could, and knew that backing down is the best way to deal with arguments with Pakura.

"Ah, what a drag." Pakura suddenly said. "Who the hell invited them here?" She was loud enough that everyone turned to stare at her.

"What's wrong?" Jasmine asked. Pakura non-verbally pointed somewhere to the right, and the others knew why she reacted like that.

At where she was pointing, there was the group of Blackthorn city residents that she had failed to kill, along with the three children she refused to take out.

"Don't look at them." Jude advised her, and they turned back to the battle in time to see that Ash's Electivire and Sabrina's Metagross were both knocked out.

"Double Knock-out!" Evan announced. "Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon."

* * *

"You were a great opponent, Sabrina." Ash praised, as Sabrina's Mr. Mime went down, leaving her to her final Pokémon. However, Mr. Mime managed to take out his Scrafty, which was a remarkable feat despite the severe type disadvantage Scrafty may have. Ash himself was also left with four Pokémon.

"Thank you, Champion Red." Sabrina replied. "I aim to please after all. Alakazam, come on out."

'That's the Kadabra I fought way back, huh?' Ash thought, as the Psi Pokémon appeared from the Pokéball. 'Alright, then, let's go with Zoroark. He's itching for a battle.'

He took out Zoroark's Pokéball, and threw it. The Pokéball opened to reveal Gardevoir once more, in the Mega Evolved state.

'Did he choose Gardevoir again?' Sabrina wondered.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

'Alakazam, start things with Shadow Ball.' Sabrina thought.

'You use Shadow Ball too. Follow it up with an Imprison.' Ash inwardly countered. Zoroark nodded, and Sabrina sighed as the Imprison took effect again.

'It's a psychology thing. Sabrina thinks it's a Psychic type, meaning that she would know what moves she couldn't use, when in reality she can use most of them.' Ash thought, smirking. 'Ok, let's use Focus Blast.'

'Focus Punch.' The Focus Punch directed the Focus Blast back to Zoroark, and Ash called out for a Hyper Voice. Alakazam was subsequently hit with the Hyper Voice and Shadow Ball.

'Alakazam, use Clam Mind.' Sabrina thought.

Ash was prepared, however. 'Hit it with a Punishment.' The Punishment was more powerful thanks to the positive stat changes due to Calm Mind.

'Alakazam, use Teleport.' Sabrina commanded, when she saw Ash's "Mega Gardevoir" about to use another Shadow Ball. To confuse Ash further, Alakazam kept teleporting all over the battlefield.

'This won't work.' Ash sighed, and closed his eyes to detect where Alakazam is going to appear next. 'Alakazam is going to appear directly towards the northwest direction next. When he appears, fire a Night Daze.' Sure enough, Alakazam appeared there, and Zoroark promptly fired a Night Daze in that direction. Alakazam took the full brunt of the attack, causing it to fall to one knee.

'What? But I'm sure Gardevoir cannot learn Night Daze. It's a signature move of…' Sabrina thought. She widened her eyes, as the illusion of Mega Gardevoir dropped, revealing the Pokémon's real form. A Zoroark.

'This match is mine, Leader Sabrina.' Ash thought. 'Zoroark, use Scary Face!'

'Disable.' Sabrina countered. The Disable hit Zoroark, meaning he can't use Scary Face anymore. However, the Scary Face did what Ash wanted: Drastically slow down Alakazam.

'Zoroark, use Feint Attack!' Zoroark disappeared. Sabrina tried to sense it with her psychic powers, and sensed that it was above.

'Alakazam, teleport above.' Sabrina commanded. 'Zoroark is above you.'

Alakazam nodded, and teleported to the said place, but couldn't see Zoroark anywhere. Zoroark appeared below Alakazam, and hit it with a powerful Feint Attack.

'You know, disrupting psychic powers isn't illegal, as long as it doesn't affect the Pokémon.' Ash sent a telepathic message to Sabrina.

'What?' Sabrina was shocked. How did he disrupt her psychic power with such precision?

'I also have psychic powers.' Ash explained. 'I can disrupt the wavelengths of the psychic power and twist them however I want. Don't be surprised, Leader Sabrina. There is more to psychic power other than teleportation, telepathy, psychokinesis, and transmutation. One of my members can create illusions and even control people with her psychic power.'

'Rosaline?' Sabrina asked, thinking of the Psychic specialist in their team.

'Nope, not her.' Ash replied. 'Zoroark, Night Slash!' The Night Slash hit Alakazam, which tired it out as it took the full brunt of the said move.

'Alakazam, Recover.' Sabrina thought.

'Hit Alakazam with Taunt!' Ash smirked. As Taunt hit, Alakazam found itself unable to use Recover. Sabrina's fists clenched as she realized Taunt would prevent any status moves to be used.

'Alakazam, Hyper Beam.' Sabrina called out.

'Dodge, and use Low Sweep.' Ash countered. Zoroark dodged the Hyper Beam, and skidded on the ground and kicked Alakazam on the knee, causing Alakazam to misfire the Hyper Beam.

'Finish it with Shadow Ball.' Ash thought.

'Thunder Wave.' Sabrina countered. 'And then use Psyshock.'

As Zoroark fired the Shadow Ball, he was paralyzed, causing him to just hold the Shadow Ball in front of him as the Psyshock hit the Shadow Ball. It was now a battle of their willpower they put into their moves.

'Don't give up, Zoroark. We'll achieve our win together, won't we? We can't lose here.' Ash poured his feelings into the aura communication. Sabrina suddenly had a vision of her opponent receiving the Pokémon World Championship trophy, and knew at that moment, she would lose the battle. Sure enough, the Shadow Ball shot through the Psyshock, hitting Alakazam, and an explosion occurred. Alakazam fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Alakazam is unable to battle! Zoroark is the winner. Which means, the one moving on to the Top 4 is Champion Red!"

"**Alright!" **Pikachu and Lucario cheered.

"Good match, Champion Red." Sabrina said, as they shook hands.

"You put up a great fight, Sabrina." Ash acknowledged. "You are one of the strongest opponents I have battled in this tournament."

Meanwhile, the group were cheering for Ash's victory.

"Well, it's your turn." Phillip said to Pakura, as she grumbled, but left the VIP Box with her Espeon and Sylveon, Lance following close behind.

* * *

"The final match of the Top 8 would now commence. This time, Champion Lance would fight head-to-head with the Elite Leader Pakura. Would Champion Lance be able to prevail over the Dragon Slayer? Or would he fall like many others? Let's find out right here, right now!" Ken hollered to the crowd, and they cheered as the participants were pushed out into the battlefield.

'This is it. The battle I've been waiting for.' Lance thought. 'I'll do my best, although the result of the battle is quite clear.' He heard his townspeople cheering for him from his right side, and grimaced as he saw the stony look on Pakura's face, indicating she knew they were there. As a psychic, she probably knew he indirectly gave the tickets to them. Lance sighed as he most likely ruined whatever chances he had with her, but of course, he wasn't going to give up anytime soon.

"Trainers, please send out your Pokémon." Evan announced.

"Gyarados, battle…" Lance started, but was cut off when Pakura said, "Wait."

"I'd like to say something." Pakura went on, and that lead everyone to stare at her.

"Alright, say whatever that is on your mind." Evan replied.

"I would like to forfeit the match." Pakura announced.

**BP: (Please read below, it's important, and questions I want answered are underlined) **

**I know it's bad, but I must have gotten rusty writing battles. Please note I am not writing the battles like in the games, because otherwise, it'll all be OHKO because of the super-effective moves, and it's boring that way. I have heard of people write about the battles game style, and in my opinion it's boring after a whole because the protagonists of the story would probably win all the battles. I don't want to write like that. **

**Since they give Pakura leeway now, it's most likely she'd vent her emotions on them. They let her do it because she'd probably do something drastic if she bottles it up. She's now alternating being nice, being indifferent and behaving like she got PMS (mood swing) because she is confused of what her real personality is, as the doctor advised her not to put up a façade anymore, so her personality depends on her mood. So please understand her fluctuating behaviour, since it is dependent on her mood. **

**I'm still deciding whether to put her with Lance, or give a plot twist and make her end up with someone else, so please help me on that because mysterypink98 isn't helping me with my stories at the moment. **

**And as for JJM, it was actually mysterypink98 who wanted them in here (I actually didn't want them but she wanted it so badly, I agreed). I find that because I actually find them annoying, I can't find any inspiration for them as a major character as the story went on, so they'll probably fade in and out of the storyline. Paul, Gary and Tracey WILL appear in the next chapter, though, so look out for that. **

**Speaking of mysterypink98, she hasn't really contacted me lately. I really miss her, you know…I think she blocked me on Whatsapp or something. I'm not sure what to think anymore. Perhaps she is too busy or maybe she made some new friends and forgot about me….or is she waiting until the March holidays? But as far as I know, March holidays started on the 11****th****.**

**Anyway, so for next chapter, do you want:**

**A: Ok, fine, let her forfeit and Lance win by default move on to Top 4**

**B: If you don't find a way to make her battle Lance, I'll KILL YOU! Hear me? KILL YOU! **

**And since it's clear Cynthia and Wallace are in the Top 4, do you want Ash to battle Cynthia or Wallace in the Top 4? If you choose one, the other would battle the winner of the Lance vs. Pakura match. **

**Please decide as I am indecisive and I can't consult my friend (this is important for the development of the next chapter, so if you want the next chapter to be published, please help me with these decisions.)**

**Also, here are some of my story ideas to add to my PAL Fanfiction Project: **

**Title of the story: Not yet decided**

**Summary: The last thing Ash and his Elites remember was being in a mission investigating a device that was smuggled in their region that apparently allows one to manifest and use abilities despite the fact that they don't have any aura, and being attacked by an army of people using the said device. So why did they wake up in another world, specifically in a world where they are apparently Defense Attorneys/Prosecutors/Detectives?**

**Much to their distress, their Pokémon have turned into Plushies and their Key Stones are now useless. Not only that, they are separated from their team members, and their CommuniDexes are now high-tech watches, leaving them no way to contact one another. And why do those strange people living in that world claim to know them, some even saying they knew them for years? The five of them have to live their "lives" as they race to find each other, stand in the courtroom for various cases, while hiding their powers from these ordinary people. They have only one goal: Find their way home. (X-over with Ace Attorney). The fie of them would be at least in their mid-twenties. **

**Questions:**

**1\. Can you tell me which of the PAL Elites should be Defense Attorney, Prosecutors, and Detectives? (E.g: If you think Rosaline should be a Detective, just say "Rosaline should be a detective in this world").**

**2\. Should the Elite Leader be known as Pakura Ameyuri or Amethyst Paradinight (her name in PAL Academy)?**

**3\. Should we have pairings with AA characters? If yes, what pairing do you hope to see?**

**4\. Should Shiki be alive? Or do you want Shiki to replace Pakura? Or do you want both alive? And what do you want his relationship with Pakura to be? And should he be a Defense Attorney/Prosecutor/Detective?**

**5\. Any suggestions for the title of this story?**

**Title of the story: Pokémon: Heartsong Symphony**

**Summary: After finishing his travels with Kalos, Ash decided to travel to the PAL Region as recommended by Professor Oak. He had heard that the Pokémon League there was somewhat different from the regions he had travelled so far. When he reached there, he gains a travelling companion, who seemed to take an interest in him, and he/she may be keeping some secrets from him too. Whatever it is, Ash is in for a thrilling adventure with his new companion, and his companion would understand why Ash is the Chosen One.**

**Question:**

**In this fic, Ash will travel with one of the PAL Elite Four member (but it would be unknown to Ash until he takes the Elite challenge). Who do you vote as Ash's travelling companion? Note: Because the travelling companion is an Elite Four instead of a Gym Leader, I make up for it by putting one less travelling companion for him.**

**Votes so far:**

**Pakura: 4 votes**

**Phillip: 1 vote**

**Rosaline: 2 votes**

**Jude: 1 vote**

**If you have any questions related to my Fanfiction Project, please PM me, review, or send me comments in my Deviantart account (I have a Journal post so just post comments on the questions you want answered). You can also request I discuss a topic related to my Fanfiction Project so you can understand them better. Put your requests in PM, reviews or comments on my Deviantart account. **

**My username in Deviantart is cutethings97. I would also post Journals on what story ideas I have for the PAL Series, so please look out for that.**

**Please comment on the pictures I have made there. I have no comments so far *sob*. I recently made Jude's VS Screen, so do check it out and tell me what you think. **

**Oh, and do help out with the PAL Series Wikia as well. **

**One last thing. For the resurrection fic, I know the title was "The Unlikeliest Second Chance at Life" but recently I had this thought to change the title to "Return of the Fallen" Do you think I should change or let the old title remain? **

**Option A: Change to "Return of the Fallen"**

**Option B: Nah, don't change. The title's fine. **

**Please note I couldn't consult mysterypink98. **

**Anyway, do review this story! (I was upset with the lack of reviews) **


	18. Battle of the Masters, Mission: Kill J

**BP: Don't ask how things with mysterypink98 are. It's still the same. I think she doesn't know I have updated my stories, because well, I checked the Author Alerts, and her username isn't among it. That means she is no longer following me (She follows me to check the progress of the Fanfiction Project, you see), and I doubt she is reading this either. **

**I almost want to write a plot twist to resurrect Shiki and Pakura married him or something, and get her to suddenly swoop in and send me a scary pic as punishment. Yeah, she used to threaten me with scary pics if I wrote something that displeases her greatly. But resurrecting Shiki is a great idea, no? Doubt she'd try to stop me anyway, with things as it is. **

**So, my birthday is in a couple of days' time. Perhaps she'd wish me a Happy Birthday in a message. Please, let it be true. Or maybe she would forget to message me a wish this year. I don't know if she even remembered about me at all.**

**Well, I wanted her to quit, but then, I realized her battling Lance would make of a funny plot I had thought about regarding the Dragon users wishing to battle the Dragon Duo, so...**

**Anyway, onward with the story!**

"E-Excuse me?" Evan was stuttering, as the audience watched on with stunned silence. "What did you just say, Princess?"

"I said." Pakura replied calmly. "That I would like to forfeit." Her Espeon and Sylveon were looking at one another, clearly not expecting this turn in events.

"I'm afraid I am going to object." Lance interrupted.

Evan looked unsure, and turned to Ken, who was sitting in the announcement box. "So, if one wants to forfeit, and another objects, what happens, then?"

"Unfortunately, if the opponent objects to the forfeit, the battle would go on as usual. Sorry Princess, not even you are immune to this as long as you are a participant in this competition. That includes Prince Red as well." Ken said.

"I want to fight you fair and square." Lance added.

"I really have no motivation to battle anymore." Pakura said in a bored voice. "Why not spare yourself the trouble and agree to the forfeit so I can go back and rest?"

"Come on, Princess, just battle." Someone from the audience said. "We've all been looking forward to this battle ever since the Top 16 ended."

"Yeah, you're one of the favourite battlers." Another chimed in. "Why not give us a good show?" Everyone added their agreement, which made Pakura sigh in exasperation.

'You better battle.' Ash's voice was suddenly in her head. 'If you don't, I'll back down on the deal.'

Pakura wondered the demand she made to Ash would be worth the battle, but when she locked eyes with Rosaline, that was when she made the decision. She definitely wanted that girl to suffer the consequences of disobeying a rule. Nobody is above the rules, especially not her. She has to pay dearly for her own curiosity and stupidity.

However, the problem is, as she had planned to forfeit, she didn't bring any Fairy/Ice Pokémon with her, and only brought her Dragon-types, seeing as they wanted to travel with her for once. Pakura shrugged. Perhaps they would think that she caught them for Contest purposes, seeing as she is also a Pokémon Coordinator. After all, those that watched Contests know that she catches other Pokémon as well, besides those of her official type specialties. With that thought, she extracted a Pokéball, and enlarged it.

"Alright!" Evan said, as the audience cheered at that action. "Let's get this show on the road. Trainers, please send out your first Pokémon."

"Gyarados, battle time!" Lance sent out the Atrocious Pokémon, who was wearing a Mega Stone.

"Now I think of it, he didn't tell me where he got those Mega Stones from." Clair said. He knew she wanted those stones to access Mega Evolution as well, so why didn't he share them with her?

"That's the question of the day, isn't it?" Lorelei said dryly. "Where he actually got them from."

"I think one of the PAL Elite members must have given those to him. They are the only ones with access to them." Morty muttered. "But why would they give something like that to him? They weren't exactly close….not like how Jasmine, Grimsley and Cynthia anyway. Didn't you notice they also have access to Mega Evolution too?"

"Yeah, I noticed Grimsley himself also has access to them and has a Key Stone sewn in his scarf, but that's because of his close relationship with Rosaline." Shauntal added. "He even got an Eevee to himself."

"You might want to ask them how he got it." Karen said to Clair, pointing to the group sitting in front.

"Oh, I will." She tapped the person in front of her, who happened to be Flint, and told him to call Ash, who was sitting in front of him. Flint obliged, and Ash turned around to face Clair.

"What?" Ash seemed somewhat irritated he was interrupted from watching the battle.

"Could you tell me how my cousin acquired those Mega Stones?" Clair asked. "You're the only ones with access, so I figured one of you must have given it to him."

Ash gulped. He knew Pakura had given those to him as the Dragon Princess. He didn't really want to lie, as he isn't exactly good at lying (In fact he had to practice lying for the interview that time when all his Elites were in hospital so that Pakura's reputation, and the region would be protected). On the other hand, telling the truth would make them think that Lance and Pakura's relationship is something more than hate, which it isn't, since they hate each other, although apparently the hate from Lance's side has diminished the moment he learnt about Pakura's story.

So he settled for a compromise: a half-truth. It's not as if Pakura would be exposed as the Dragon Princess anyway, since she's a Coordinator and they'd assumed her other Pokémon that are not Fairy/Ice types are for Contest purposes. That would explain why they didn't question her Espeon much when they saw him walking alongside her.

"Wait, the Dragon Princess is alive?" Clair's eyes lit up. "Do you know where she is? I want to ask her for a battle." Her fellow Dragon users, Drayden and Drake also nodded enthusiastically.

"How would I know? You'd have to ask Lance." Ash gave her a funny look. "He told it to me himself that the Dragon Princess gave them to him, but wouldn't tell me where she's hiding. Besides, I don't think you should seek her for a battle, they say she dislikes battling."

"But she's the strongest Dragon user!" Clair protested. "I want to battle her to see if that's true, Dragon on Dragon, of course."

"She's part Psychic Master as well, for your information." Ash informed her acidly. "She's bound to use Psychic Pokémon as well."

"Maybe I can request she only use Dragon Pokémon?" Clair suggested. "No matter. When Lance returns, I am going to ask him where she is hiding so I can have my battle."

"I'll come with you." Drayden added, and Drake nodded, signalling he would want to ask for a battle too. "Maybe she's a wise old woman who would give us some tips as well."

'You'd be surprised if you realize she is actually younger than all of you.' Ash thought. 'Well….at least her given age is.'

'She's not old! Speak for yourself, old men!' Jude glared at Drayden and Drake. He turned in time to see Fraxure being knocked down by Flygon's Dragon Breath. The scoreboard indicated that Lance already lost his Gyarados and is now using Flygon, while Pakura was still at her first Pokémon, her Fraxure. It's clear Lance had a harder time trying to figure out Pakura's battling style, as she had no pattern whatsoever.

"Are you alright?" Pakura asked Fraxure. Fraxure slowly but surely got up, and suddenly glowed blue. Pakura widened her eyes slightly, as Fraxure became taller and bigger, and the tusks seemed to be growing upwards. His skin also seemed to be turning more ridged. When the glow died, it revealed a Haxorus, who roared to the heavens.

"**Alright, I did it, I became a Haxorus!" **Haxorus cried.

"Lucky break, but it doesn't change the battle results." Lance called out. "Flygon, Dragon Rush!"

Haxorus narrowed his eyes, and before Pakura could mentally command him, he charged and shot an orange ball of energy that split, and went raining down towards Flygon.

'He finally mastered Draco Meteor.' Pakura thought, letting a slight smile grace her lips for a split second, before returning to command her new Haxorus.

* * *

'I don't get it.' Clair thought. 'Lance is one of the strongest Dragon users among us, and the top prodigy among the Dragon Clan. Why is she having the lead over my cousin, and with Dragon-types, no less?' At the scoreboard, Lance was at his fourth Pokémon, which was Salamence, while Pakura was at her second, which was Noivern. As Clair had done her homework, she knew Noivern is part Dragon.

'Counter with Boomburst.' Pakura thought, seeing the Dragon Pulse shooting towards Noivern. Noivern nodded, and fired a blast of powerful sound waves from its ears at the incoming Dragon Pulse. The sound waves had enough power to stop the Dragon Pulse in its tracks, and even reflect it back to Salamence.

'I think she only brought Dragon-types with her.' Jude used telepathy to communicate with the other Elites.

'Yeah, she probably planned to forfeit from the beginning, so she didn't really bring her Fairy/Ice Pokémon, and brought her Dragon/Psychic type because it has been a while since she had them on hand with her.' Ash replied in his head. 'She didn't expect Lance to object to the forfeit, and underestimated her popularity among the audience.'

'Lance would lose either way, since she is the most powerful Dragon user in the PAL Region, and the entire Pokémon World.' Phillip commented. 'And not to mention she's one of the strongest psychics in the PAL Region.'

'Don't remind me.' Rosaline mentally muttered, somewhat miffed that even they thought Pakura would make a better Psychic specialist than her.

'It's true.' Phillip retorted. 'It's only because Shiki was dead that she even let you have that Psychic specialty. Do you really think she'd let you in when your psychic power is much weaker than hers, despite being born with it?'

'Enough, Phillip, Rosaline doesn't need to be tormented any longer.' Ash interrupted. 'Although I concede you do have a point. You do need to train harder than ever. Otherwise, you might find that Paku could choose to change to Psychic specialty, which would spell your loss of position.'

Rosaline nodded, which made the others wonder why she made the sudden movement.

'Opps, I forgot we were talking with telepathy.' Rosaline thought, but mouthed, "I'll tell you later." to the love interests. They nodded, and turned back just in time to see Noivern on the ground. Evan was about to announce its inability to continue battling, when Noivern got up, much to everyone's surprise as they had thought Salamence's Dragon Claw had done the trick. Even Pakura must have thought so as she had its Pokéball out, ready to return it.

"Noivern, stop it. It's ok if you can't fight." Pakura said, knowing Noivern was struggling to stand. "I don't want you to exert yourself, it's bad for you."

"**You let me battle. Want to make you proud." **Noivern said. **"Make Pakura happy."**

Pakura widened her eyes at the comment, and before she could even reply or give a command, Noivern flew to the skies and executed a Draco Meteor and Boomburst combination, and as a last ditch effort, a Giga Impact. The attacks were enough to make Salamence faint, but Noivern also fainted for real this time.

"Both Pokémon are unable to battle!" Evan announced. "Trainers please…" What he did not expect was Pakura running out into the battlefield to Noivern, and kneeling next to him.

"Are you alright?" Pakura asked, concern in her voice.

"**Did I make you proud?" **Noivern replied with a question.

Pakura looked into Noivern's hopeful eyes. She didn't even need to think of the answer.

"Of course. You battled the best today. I couldn't ask for a better Pokémon to battle here today." Pakura gave a smile, and Noivern's eyes brightened as she gave him a hug.

"**Win this?" **Noivern requested.

Pakura stopped. She had intended to lose on purpose, give the lead to Lance after Noivern fainted (she battled well in order to deflect suspicion on her not taking the battle seriously), but with Noivern's request, it makes it much more difficult for her to lose on purpose, seeing how hard he tried to win the match for her.

"I will. Please, take a good rest." She returned Noivern to the Pokéball, and returned to her side. She would have to win this match.

"Trainers, please send out your next Pokémon." Evan ordered.

"Dragonite, battle time!" Lance sent out his partner.

"Let's go, Dragalge!" Pakura sent out the Mock Kelp Pokémon.

* * *

"Huh?" Whitney was surprised. "Isn't Dragonite Lance's strongest Pokémon? Why would Lance send out his strongest Pokémon now?"

"Beats me." Volkner replied. "Maybe Lance has something up his sleeve?"

"My cousin didn't really state what his strategy was when I asked him yesterday." Clair frowned. "It seemed he had an ace up his sleeve as he said it was a secret. Seriously, my cousin is acting weirder the longer we stayed in this region. Lance usually doesn't even look at girls, and says that he doesn't have time to bother with his love life, and thus was immune to their charms. Yet, yesterday, he was trying to get the regional princess to go out on a date with him."

Having grown up with him, she knew he was attracted by her. But the question was, how did he fall for her overnight?

"What is Pakura doing?" Glacia asked. Apparently, Pakura is letting her Dragalge hit by Dragonite's physical moves, and seemed to be waiting for something. The PAL Elites seem to be smirking as well. Just what were they smiling about?

Her question was answered as Dragonite suddenly had purple static surrounding him, indicating a poisoned status. Lance apparently did not expect it, as he had a surprised expression on his face.

"Poison Point?" Lance gasped.

Pakura gave a single nod to confirm her Dragalge had the ability Poison Point. 'Now, Dragalge, let's use Play Rough.' As Dragonite was slowed down thanks to poison, he took the full brunt of the Play Rough attack, causing it to skid backwards.

"Dragonite, use Twister!" Lance commanded.

'You use Twister too.' Pakura thought. The Twisters clashed, and Pakura called out for a Dragon Pulse. However, Lance had sensed a move, and commanded Dragonite to use Dragon Rage to counter it.

'Now! Use Venoshock, and then use Draco Meteor.' Pakura inwardly commanded. Since Dragonite was preoccupied with the Dragon Pulse, it left it open to Venoshock, and it dealt double damage since Dragonite was poisoned. Before Lance could even react, Dragalge fired a Draco Meteor which rained all over the battlefield.

When the attack was over, Dragonite was on the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Dragonite is unable to battle! Champion Lance, please send out your final Pokémon."

'What power.' Lance thought as he returned his Dragonite. 'No wonder she is hailed as the strongest female Dragon Master in the entire Pokémon World. With power like this, it means she can easily give a One Hit Knock Out to the Gym Leader's Pokémon, but prolonged the match on purpose.'

"Pakura is so cool!" Ryuji, one of the three children that Pakura had spared, exclaimed. He was now a teenager as he was only 9 (turning 10) when the massacre happened. Now he was on his Pokémon journey, but had put it on hold when Clair had sent them tickets to the event of the year- the Pokémon World Championships.

"I agree." Yoko replied. She was also the second kid Pakura had spared. She was around ten years old, which meant she had just started her Pokémon journey. Like Ryuji, she had put them on hold to watch Lance, one of the Dragon Clan's prodigies, battle.

Pakura must have heard their comments, for she turned around, and saw the three children looking at her earnestly. She managed a small but soft smile, which made the children squeal in delight.

"What are you doing?" A woman asked. "Don't support the opponent!"

"But you have to admit Princess Pakura is really elegant!" A pre-teen boy named Hiromu piped up, as Lance threw his Luxury Ball. "And so powerful!"

A man opened his mouth to berate the children, but heard Pakura mutter, "Well, you're not half bad at battling, but you are lousy at taking girls out on a date. Never ask girls out again."

The audience started laughing at Pakura's remark, and Lance spluttered at the comment.

"Hey, wait, those weren't my fault!" Lance cried. "How was I supposed to know that those idiots would dine there, and that the waiter would try to spill soup on you for going on that date with me?"

The audience gasped at Lance's response. Champion Lance and Princess Pakura went on a date together?

"Don't you have a psychic in your team?" Pakura retorted, ignoring the whispers that had occurred around them.

"Will can't tell the future." Lance protested.

"No, but I can tell that you won't have any future with her if you keep that up." Will riposted in the VIP Box, and everyone in the VIP Box started laughing again.

"I thought as Johto Champion he'll have no problem getting a date but I was wrong." Lucian mused.

"He asked her out? You mean he already got over his sweet Ariana?" A second woman gasped. "How could he? Ariana was his fiancé."

"But she was killed, remember." Her husband pointed out. "At least Lance picked someone with a reputation and her own fortune. Besides, if she married into our Clan, we'd have power over the PAL Region. Imagine the perks that she would bring along with her, and we can rebuild our reputation again." The others nodded, thinking her husband had a point.

"No matter. Just send out your last Pokémon." Pakura yawned, sending a glare to the Blackthorn crowd without them seeing, as she had heard what they said. There is no way she is going to return to them. Lance caught the look on her face, and inwardly groaned, as it was clear she heard something that displeased her. But still, he threw the Luxury Ball, and everyone gasped at Lance's final Pokémon. A Latios. What was more, he was wearing a Mega Stone.

"Maybe Lance has a chance now." The man from earlier said smugly, just as Pakura returned her Dragalge. She took out a Luxury Ball with a gleam in her eye, and threw it, revealing Latias.

"And folks, it looks like it's the battle between the Eon Duo." Ken announced, to everyone's cheers. "Which Eon twin would emerge victorious? We'll see when after this battle."

"Since when does she own a Latias?" Another woman asked.

"I want her autograph." Hiromu had hearts on his eyes, just as Evan announced, "Let the battle begin!"

As soon as Evan announced the start of the battle, Lance decided to press his Key Stone. Latios' Latiosite reacted to the Key Stone Lance was wearing on his wrist, and he evolved into Mega Latios. Everyone gasped at the transformation of the Legendary Pokémon, and the townspeople were cheering in glee, though some were wondering where he got them, and figured they'd ask Lance later so they can get some for themselves. That way, they would become even more powerful in battling.

Lance decided not to call his attacks out loud, since Latios is part Psychic, this means he can open a path of telepathic communication between himself and Lance. He had discovered this during training, and decided to use it to his full advantage. However, unlike Pakura, this telepathic communication only works with Latios only, since Lance doesn't have any psychic powers to open up the telepathic communication himself.

'So he decided to go for Mega Evolution in the beginning, huh?' Pakura thought. 'And it looks like he got Latios to open up a telepathic link between them. Well, then, Champion Lance, let's see how far it goes. Latias, counter that Dragon Breath with Icy Beam, and then use Shadow Ball.'

* * *

'Paku hasn't been fighting with Dragon types for five years already. Her skills in Dragon training are probably rusty.' Ash thought. 'However, I don't know if she knows it or not, but she is emitting aura, and she is improving in it with every battle she has engaged with Lance so far.'

"You notice it too, huh?" Jude whispered, and Ash nodded.

"Those who can't use aura, of course to them it'd be invisible. But we can see clear as day that there is aura surrounding her. She's using the ability she was born with without knowing it." Phillip added.

"I guess as a genius, Pakura seems to unconsciously use aura when she battles with Dragon-type Pokémon." Rosaline said.

"It's not illegal, is it?" Cynthia asked, having heard their conversation.

"I think this ability allows various battle strategies relating to Dragon-type Pokémon to flow into her head, and it's not as if she is using them on anyone else but herself." Ash answered. "So no, it isn't against the rules."

"Lance is done for, isn't he?" Jasmine said quietly.

"Guess so. According to research, once that ability activates, it's extremely difficult to defeat the user." Phillip replied. "But wait, one question. If that is so, how did Shiki defeat her every time they battle back then?"

"My theory is that one, because Shiki has more experience battling, and two, Paku hasn't really mastered her aura yet. While it's true the other users used it very well without having trained it, they didn't develop other aura abilities in the process, while Paku did. As she didn't master her other abilities well and experimented on to boot, it also affects this gift of hers. It's all interrelated." Ash muttered.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Grimsley nodded. They turned back to see Latios hitting Latias with a Steel Wing, and that was when Pakura decided to press her Key Stone to Mega Evolve Latias, knowing if they were to fight with power alone, Lance would eventually win, as he had used Mega Evolution. The Latiasite reacted with her Mega Charm, and Latias Mega Evolved to Mega Latias.

"And it looks like Elite Pakura decided to make use of her Mega Evolution too! With Mega Evolution at both their sides, the battle will be heating up!" Ken commented.

'Latios, Luster Purge.' Lance thought.

'Counter with Dragon Breath. After that, use Draco Meteor.' Pakura countered. Due to the increased boost of power Mega Evolution gave Latias, both attacks caused a huge explosion. Lance thought he deflected the attack, until he saw the Draco Meteor splitting and falling towards the battlefield.

'Latios, quickly, use Thunderbolt.' Lance thought. Mega Latios used Thunderbolt on the Draco Meteor, which effectively destroyed them. Mega Latias took this chance, and flew towards Mega Latios, attacking him with a Dragon Claw. Lance retaliated with a Thunder Wave, which paralyzed Mega Latias.

Pakura shook her head confidently, and Lance wondered why she was unperturbed by the status condition. His question was answered later when Mega Latias used Psycho Shift, which transferred the status to Mega Latios instead.

'Latios, let's use Rest.' Lance thought. Mega Latios nodded, and promptly fell asleep, slowly recovering his energy, and removing the paralysis.

'Dream Eater.' Pakura commanded, and Mega Latias started to drain the energy from a sleeping Mega Latios.

'Latios, quick! Sleep Talk!' Lance countered. Sleep Talk turned out to be Hyper Beam, and Mega Latias dodged it gracefully, as per Pakura's mental orders. Unfortunately, that meant Mega Latios needed time to cool down, and it allowed Mega Latias to keep using Dream Eater. Mega Latios woke up after a while, but looked a little tired.

'Latios, use Sunny Day.' Lance commanded.

'Latias, use Shadow Ball.' Pakura decided to attack.

'Solar Beam!' Due to the earlier Sunny Day, the Solar Beam took much less time to charge, and explosions occurred once more. Lance took this chance to command Mega Latios to hit Mega Latias with a Shadow Claw, and have a Dragon Claw on standby on the other hand. Pakura blocked the first one, but didn't expect the Dragon Claw.

'Not bad.' Pakura thought. 'Latias, use Recover.' Lance groaned as Latias healed herself of the injury sustained from the Dragon Claw.

'Now, use Mist Ball.' Pakura mentally ordered.

'Counter with Dragon Pulse!' Lance saw Mega Latias charging an attack. The Dragon Pulse hit the Mist Ball, causing it to explode into clouds of Mist, which Pakura wasted no time to ask Mega Latias to use Icy Wind to blow the mist to Mega Latios.

'We'll do it with sheer power. Latios, use Shadow Ball. When Pakura counters, you go on and use Steel Wing.' Lance thought.

'Counter that Shadow Ball with Energy Ball.' Pakura commanded. As she sensed another attack coming, she was about to order a counterattack, but Mega Latias was hit hard by the Steel Wing.

'Now, use Luster Purge!' Lance thought.

'Use Thunderbolt on yourself, and then charge up a Dragon Breath.' Pakura thought. Everyone was surprised when Mega Latias used Thunderbolt on herself. As she did, she charged up a Dragon Breath, which became electrified and increased in power. The two attacks met in the middle, and exploded. Lance tried to stand on his feet as the sheer force of the explosion is pushing him back, while Pakura herself doesn't seem fazed and stood there watching the explosions.

When the smoke cleared, both Eon Pokémon were hovering at their own side of the battlefield, glaring at each other, clearly having a stare down. Both their Mega Evolutions also seemed to have worn off. Everyone could almost hear their hearts beating as they waited to see who would fall first. A minute later, Latios cried out in pain, probably from one of its injuries, and fell to the ground, defeated.

Everyone stared in silence, before Evan collected himself, and said, "Latios is unable to battle! Latias wins! Which means, the winner of this match is Elite Pakura!"

Lance returned his Latios, thanking it for a great battle, and walked to the middle to shake hands with Pakura.

"It was a great battle. I had fun." Lance said, holding out his hand. Pakura stared at it, blinking, before reluctantly accepting the handshake.

"Amazing! After a long and hard battle, Princess Pakura emerges as the winner, even with Dragon Pokémon alone! But then again, what do you expect from the former Dragon Princess?" Ken remarked.

The stadium suddenly became silent, as they comprehended Ken's words.

'Oh shit.' Ash thought. 'Her secret's exposed. I forgot Ken was the one that crowned her.'

"Wait what?" Clair was shocked. "Did he just say Pakura is the Dragon Princess?"

"How ironic, though." Drake said thoughtfully. "The Dragon Slayer is the Dragon Princess. Frankly, she'd be the last person in our minds."

"No wonder she defeated Champion Lance today. And explains why her name wasn't among the Trainer's Tournament winners. She participated as the Dragon Princess." Drayden was staring at Pakura, who had stiffened halfway shaking hands with Lance. At her left side, there were a crowd of adults trying to get to her, pushing those in front out of the way. Lance sighed, as security had to come take his townspeople away. They most likely wanted to talk to her, to battle her, or even get her to join the Dragon Clan. Perhaps they already had marriage candidates for her.

"Is it true, Elite Pakura?" Evan asked, and a hush fell over them again, waiting for Pakura's answer. Pakura eyed the townspeople fighting security to get to her, and non-verbally teleported away, confirming their answer, as the Dragon Duo were also powerful psychics.

Back in the VIP Box, Clair whispered "She's a Quarter Anniversary winner." Clair whispered, remembering the Dragon Duo had won the very first Quarter Anniversary. She suddenly stood up, and announced, "I'm going to find her and request for a battle." With that, she left, followed by her fellow Dragon users.

Ash sighed. Things had just gone awry, as he watched Iris break away from her group. He heard Max ask her where she was going, and she replied with, "I'm going to find Pakura and ask her for a battle! That stupid girl was the dragon princess all along! Why didn't she tell me?" He stayed just in time to hear he'd be up against Cynthia while Pakura would be facing Wallace, and the Top 4 commencing in four days (to give time for the competitors to prepare for their matches), before leaving the VIP Box with his friends.

* * *

Ash and his friends, along with their love interests were waiting for their Pokémon to be healed in the Pokémon Center, though only four of them are in need of any real healing, and the rest are just having a check-up.

As they waited for their Pokémon to be brought back to them by Nurse Joy, Cynthia decided to check the computer for more PokéVision videos. She had watched some of them and were fascinated by the various ways that trainers had showed the bonds between themselves and their Pokémon. When she turned it on, however, she saw a white envelope glowing.

"What are you looking at?" Ash asked, as Cynthia tapped on the said white envelope. A video of Aetna, the host of the PAL Pokémon Contest, appeared on the screen.

"Hello to all Coordinators out there." Aetna said. "Those who are doing their best with their performances by exhibiting beautiful moves and powerful combinations, I shall invite you to a dance party hosted me! The party would be held the night after the Final Round of the PAL Pokémon Contest, and Gym Leaders, Elite Fours, and even Champions are welcome to attend!"

"A dance party?" Rosaline repeated, as everyone crowded around the computer. "We're welcome too?"

"This, of course, would provide a celebration to the success of the PAL Pokémon Contest, and would also celebrate the victor of the Contest, who would have the right to battle any one of the Legendary Coordinators!" Aetna announced. "Please look forward to it." Aetna curtseyed.

"**Wow." **Pikachu hopped onto Ash's shoulder, having heard the invitation.

"Sounds fun." Jude remarked.

"However, this party has one condition." Aetna said, holding her finger up. "All attendees, Coordinator and Pokémon alike, must register in pairs of one male and one female."

"That won't be a problem." Ash said.

"To you, maybe." Jude muttered.

"I'm sure it would be an elegant and fun party for all. Also, the three judges, Champion Wallace, Leader Fantina and even our own Princess Pakura would be attending as special guests!" Aetna said.

"Of course." Ash commented, just as Aetna said, "Well then, let's meet at the venue when the Final Rounds end." With that, she curtseyed once more, and the video ended.

"I think this party would be a great way to have fun and keep an eye on Pakura." Ash remarked. "Do you guys want to go?"

"Definitely." The three PAL Elites said in unison, but Jude added, "I don't have a date, though." He frowned as he said this. Who was he going to ask?

"Oh, that's no problem." Cynthia said, spotting the Johto Elites entering the Pokémon Center. "Hey, Karen!"

Karen looked over, and said, "Yes?"

"There's a dance party after the Final Rounds of the PAL Contest. Jude wants to ask if you want to go with him." Cynthia proposed, before Jude could stop her. Karen looked at Jude, who sighed and shook his head.

"I'm not forcing you to say yes." Jude muttered.

"I'll go." Karen promptly replied. Cynthia shot Jude a look that said, "See? Now you got a date." and Jude replied with a look that said, "You did it on purpose."

Lance overheard the conversation, and went over to the group, looking somewhat interested, as it was a good chance to ask Pakura if she would attend the party with him.

"So you want to take Pakura as a date there?" Ash asked, the moment he reached them.

"How did you know?" Lance was surprised.

"Anyone could tell. I am not sure if she'd say yes, considering the disaster you call a date." Jude said thoughtfully, as Lance gave him a look like, "That wasn't my fault! I swear!"

"Guess you'd have to bribe her or something." Phillip said. "Give her what she wants."

"Ok…so where is she?" Lance asked.

"Last I know, she was at that World of Usukis. You know, one of those Usuki doll shops in the PAL Region. She was about to buy that Prom Queen Glamour Gown for her Usuki dolls, but the Dragon users entered the shop looking for her, so she had to make a break for it without buying that doll outfit. Poor her, she was looking forward for that outfit for weeks now, and that was the last one on sale." Ash replied. "Who knows where she's hiding."

As soon as Lance heard this, he had an idea. With that, he thanked Ash, and made his way to the Usuki doll shop, hoping that Prom Queen Glamour Gown was still there.

* * *

"Hey, guys." Jasmine stepped into her own floor, greeting her fellow Gym Leaders.

"Hey, Jasmine." Chuck said. "How was lunch?"

"Lunch?" Her fellow Gym Leaders knew that she hadn't been with them for a few days, as she was needed to support her boyfriend, who was a PAL Elite member. What was more, she had to help the Leader herself, someone who was Phillip's best friend, and had protected Phillip at his time of need. Then Jasmine saw a man standing behind the group at the doorway leading to the rooms. One look at the tailored suit and professional features made her sure he was a businessman.

"Someone's here to see you." Whitney said. Her face was a little too pale and she could hear the anxiety she's trying to hide.

"I thought Phillip wasn't off his watch until night, and he needs to go somewhere after dinner." Jasmine frowned, pretending not to notice her state. "And since when did he need an escort?"

"No, Jasmine, it's…" Morty began.

"This way, please, Jasmine." The man said. He gestured her to the elevator.

As Jasmine left, she gave her fellow Gym Leaders a reassuring smile over her shoulder. "Probably my boyfriend wanting to see me, but can't come himself." The others looked at each other. They knew she was in the company of Phillip Robinson, but never suspected anything much. So they were a couple? Well, they learn something new every day.

Jasmine followed the man to the Plaza Hotel, and they rode the elevator to the eighteenth floor. He led her down the hallway to a polished wooden door. Phillip once mentioned the doors were made of Bocote, which comes from a plant called Cordia. She could feel her mind beginning to race, as her hand shot to a Pokéball. Who is here? What did they want from her?

The man knocked on the door, and said, "The Jasmine girl to see you, sir."

Another male voice replied by saying, "Ok, send her in."

"Go right in." The man gestured to her, as he unlocked the door with a golden key. Jasmine twisted the polished gold doorknob, and stepped inside. The speaker earlier looked to be in his early twenties at best. He had reddish-brown hair with emerald green eyes. He was wearing a dark blue suit with white dress shirt and a blue patterned tie.

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?" Jasmine hissed.

"My name is Acer. Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you." The young man held up his hands in surrender, and jerked his head to his Pokéballs, which were all on the table. "I just want to enlist your help."

"Help for what?" Jasmine was less wary, though her hand was still on Steelix's Pokéball.

"Come on, let's sit." Acer gestured to two plush chairs. Jasmine sat in one, and Acer sat on the other.

"First of all, I'm really sorry for pulling you out like that. I did not do this to hurt you, or anything, rather, I really want to beg for your help. Sources told me you were the closest to Phillip."

"You know him?" Jasmine was surprised.

"I grew up with him. Unfortunately, he didn't have the best childhood, you know. Even his own parents neglect him because of his anti-social personality and compared him to other children who were more sociable, and even his own peers mocked him for reading and experimenting so much, when that was what he liked. He spent most of his time shut up in his room." Acer informed her. "You see, his parents also mentioned me. I was a social butterfly, and Phillip often envied me. I am sorry to say I basked in those compliments, but I was a child then. I'm actually younger than Phillip."

"All children would have their egos inflated because of their parents." Jasmine said gently, and Acer smiled gratefully at the comfort. "So how bad was it?"

Acer shook his head. "Phillip never returned to Mauville City after he left for his journey, or even contacted his own parents. He wanted nothing to do with them. You see, just the other day, before lunch, his family came to see him. But he coldly rebuffed them right in front of his friend, and told his best friend that he never knew them, before returning to the Tower."

Jasmine thought of Phillip's forced smile when he returned from lunch the day before the Top 8 commenced. Was that?

"So, in other words, you want me to help you reconcile with Phillip." Jasmine deduced.

Acer nodded. "Yes, his parents really missed him, you know. They really tried to find him in the past, I swear! There were times where they look really tired and upset the next day because they had spent the whole night contacting people if they had seen Phillip!"

Jasmine noticed Acer was crying, and offered him a pack of tissues, which he accepted with a thanks.

"I figured I'd try to get the most innocuous person to talk to Phillip, you know. Someone that he could share good memories with, but nothing too close to us, and soften Phillip's bitterness on his childhood memories. You were the best option I could think of." Acer explained. "Especially when I heard you were a pleasant companion."

"Alright, I'll try to talk to Phillip. It's not a guarantee, but I'll try to get him to hear you out." Jasmine said. "Just a curiosity, though. What are you to Phillip? Any relations?"

Jasmine gasped when Acer gave her a smile, and answered. "My full name is Acer Robinson. I'm his younger brother."

* * *

Ash and Cynthia went up to their own floor, glad to have the afternoon to themselves, and guess who should be sitting there but none other than the other Dragon users (sans Lance).

"What the-?" Ash started but fortunately managed to control himself at the last minute.

"What are you doing here?" Cynthia was puzzled.

"Oh, hey Cynthia, Red." Clair greeted, like they were meeting for tea at the Palm Court or whatever. "Have you seen Pakura?"

Ash just stared at them like they were crazy. "No, I have not seen her, and this is our floor." He replied.

"Well, we know that." Drake answered. "We're not slow. But how else do you expect us to get hold of Pakura? She's been avoiding us like plague, and she refused to respond to our messages, so we have no choice but to hunt her down here. If you don't mind, we'll just wait for her until she shows up. Since this is the floor she resides in, she's bound to show up."

Ash was about to bubble over with rage, but replied with, "Do you know Paku dislikes battling outside of the tournament?"

"Besides, didn't she battle two of you during the Pokémon World Championships, which you lost horribly?" Cynthia raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah, you can't just sit here and wait as you please, this is not your floor. We use this place for private time together." Ash folded his arms.

"Oh come on! Lance got his Dragon-on-Dragon battle with her, and we want ours too!" Clair protested.

"I'm sure she'd make time to battle us, after all, she's a fellow Dragon Master." Drake nodded.

Ash scanned their minds briefly, and inwardly sighed when he realized they were going to ask for a Full Battle, and they were definitely going to wait here for her to come back and was not going to budge, not caring this was not their floor. It looks like he'd have to resort to using his abilities. His eyes glowed blue, and the Dragon users disappeared via teleportation.

"Where did you send them?" Cynthia asked curiously.

"For Drake and Drayden, I sent them to the ladies' room at the Battle Arena. Those washrooms aren't as nice as those in the Plaza. For Clair, I sent her to the men's room. Make sure they landed feet first in the toilet bowl." Ash replied, and Cynthia laughed, as they headed to the kitchen to make some huge vats of popcorn smothered in butter. They then climbed into Ash's bed and started watching the movies they had rented at the movie store.

"I say Pakura would look great in that Regina girl's outfit." Cynthia commented, as they watched the movie Mean Girls. "Or any of those Plastics pink outfit. But seriously, on Wednesdays we wear pink? I won't fit in, I don't look good in pink."

"You're more of a badass girl than the soft-spoken type." Ash agreed. "It's a good thing though, I can't resist a girl with a weapon and who can protect herself…Oh, Kälteen Bars. They actually sell them in this region."

"They do?" Cynthia was curious, looking at Cady supplying the first bar to Regina to sabotage her.

"Yeah, Jude said Paku mentioned them. Apparently, Shiki used to supply them to her in the early days to help her gain some weight, since she was severely underweight when he rescued her. She said he told her he bought them in this region." Ash answered. "Works like a charm. But still, when I get my hands on Team Rocket…."

"Get in line, Ash." Cynthia said. "I'm sure we would all like our inputs of what we think."

* * *

Phillip doesn't know who Acer Robinson thinks he is, but he sure know who he isn't: his brother. He don't think that anyone who is his brother would stoop so low as to get his girlfriend to come and talk this matter out, when he made it clear he was done. Jasmine thought he crossed the line snapping at his family, which Phillip thought they definitely deserved after what they did to him all those years ago.

Phillip could understand if Jasmine wanted to talk to him about something that mattered- like his Pakura watch shift for instance, which takes up most of his afternoon, which meant they could only really spend time together at night, but tonight he was going to the dungeon after dinner as per Pakura's orders, and no one could say no to her. So he guessed he could see how Jasmine might kind of resent this arrangement or Pakura for ordering this on him.

Whatever. All he knew was when he walked in the penthouse on their floor to prepare for his watch, he saw Jasmine waiting for him. She had this funny look on her face, and then she went, "I have to talk to you."

She wasn't in her usual, sweet cheerful self, so Phillip knew it had to be serious.

"Ok, talk." Phillip said.

"You see…you said you weren't from here, right?" Jasmine asked. She decided to steer clear of the mention of his family, in case it might trigger a mental meltdown for Phillip.

"Yeah, what about it?" Phillip replied, frowning. Where was this going?

"Don't you ever visit?" Jasmine went on. "Surely you miss home badly?"

"Not really." Phillip admitted.

"But I am sure those who lived back at your home misses you." Jasmine insisted.

"Wait a minute…" Phillip had figured it out. "You knew my family is here, and they tried to talk to me."

"Yes." She whispered.

"They set you up for it, didn't they?" Phillip said angrily. "Using you to get me to hear what they have to say. I never thought they would stoop so low, find out information about me, and approach you."

"Oh no, Phillip, they genuinely loved you. They really missed you a lot, and wanted to make amends." Jasmine replied, trying to calm her boyfriend down.

"I'm sure they'd tell you that. But in reality, all the want is to brag to their friends on the accomplishments I made, and take the credit." Phillip ran his hands over his hair in frustration.

"They didn't have to tell me that. I-" Jasmine began.

"Because they are lying. They're liars. You can't believe anything they say! They are just like those monsters from Team Rocket that had tortured my best friend!" Phillip said coldly.

"No Phillip. Your younger brother cared for you. He-" Jasmine tried again.

"Don't trust my younger brother, Jasmine." Phillip said, somewhat frantic. "He's just an arrogant prick who loved his parents' attention and often rubs it in my face how he was loved more than me by my parents and our peers." With that, he turned and stormed off, not bothering to take his Pokémon with him.

Phillip walked into the forest and was so absorbed in his anger he did not see a figure hiding up the tree, and aiming a blowgun at him. Phillip was shot in the neck, and realized he was temporarily paralyzed.

'Shit, it's drug induced darts. I shouldn't have let my guard down.' Phillip thought, as he fell to the ground. 'Who could it be?' As if answering his questions, a woman jumped down from the tree, and was caught by her Salamence, who was wearing a Mega Stone.

"Well, well, if it isn't Phillip Robinson." The woman was wearing goggles and had silver hair. Phillip recognized her as one of the most dangerous Pokémon hunters. Hunter J. The one they had assigned Pakura to kill.

"Hunter J." Phillip gritted his teeth, and he was forcibly tied to the tree thanks to her Ariados' String Shot. He would have used his powers, but there is something about the drug in his body that prevented him from wielding them properly. Hunter J smirked, and approached Phillip, and searched him, and frowned when she realized he had no Pokéballs with him.

"Which foolish child doesn't bring their Pokémon with them?" J muttered, and Phillip rolled his eyes. "No matter. I can just use you as a hostage. In return for all the Pokémon your fellow Elites own, I would guarantee your return."

"You do kidnaps now?" Phillip said sarcastically.

"You must use any methods necessary to acquire the Pokémon you want." J replied, and aimed her cannon at him. Phillip stiffened as he realized this cannon could turn Pokémon and humans into stone.

"Wingull, use Air Slash!" A voice called out. Hunter J must have heard this as well, and jumped out of the way, but in the process, she misfired the cannon, which meant Phillip wasn't turned to stone. However, his CommuniDex was, cutting off communication with his other Elites, much to Phillip's distress.

"Don't touch our son." Gregory said, appearing in the forest clearing. Phillip's eyes widened when he saw his family. How did they know he was in the forest?

Hunter J straightened up, and laughed. "Alright, you brought Pokémon."

"Acer, take Phillip and go. Run as far as you can." Penelope instructed, taking out her Pokéball, getting ready to fight the Pokémon Hunter.

Acer nodded, and put Phillip's arm around him, before starting to half-carry, half-drag him out of the forest.

"What are you guys doing here?" Phillip spluttered.

"Sad to say, I saw you stomp out of the Tower into the forest." Acer replied. "I followed you in hoping to have a heart-to-heart talk with you, but then I noticed her Airship parked in one of the forest clearings, you know. So I alerted our parents, and they thought you were in danger, so they wanted to save you."

Phillip fell silent the moment Acer finished explaining. So his parents really wished to reconcile with him. He was now unsure of what he was going to do or say if they made out of this alive.

* * *

"What?" Ash was surprised. He and Cynthia were communicating with Pakura via his CommuniDex.

"It's true. I sensed my target in the forest. Phil is in there, and is probably in danger, and her clients are most likely in that airship in auto-pilot mode waiting for her to return so she could finish whatever dealings she has with them. I suspect her target was our Pokémon, as they'd fetch a price. There are also various vehicles that are probably operated by her henchmen." Pakura replied.

"Is there anything you want us to do?" Ash asked. Cynthia nodded, signifying she was ready to help.

"No. Hunter J is my target. She is mine to handle." Pakura replied.

"You can't do this alone." A voice said. Both turned to see Lance behind them. "I want to fight too, and don't underestimate me. I have been through combat training before, as a Pokémon G-men."

"Why would you want to fight?" Pakura gave him a funny look.

"Because she killed my colleague." Lance said with vengeance.

Pakura thought of this a moment. Considered him. "Ok, you can come with me, then. Ash, Cynthia, if you want to bring the others, you can, but all you need to do is locate that airship and see if you can rescue the Pokémon that are trapped in there. Take down the henchmen, and rescue whoever they are targeting at the moment. Whatever you do, do not leave anyone from J's side alive." With that, she cut the connection, leaving the three to blink. Ash opened the map, and located the other four.

"Ok, guys, Paku is on the move, probably to look for Phillip. I cannot locate Phillip though, for some reason. Rosaline is in her personal gallery and Jude is at his shop. Cynthia, please get those two. I am going to handle those henchmen. Lance, look for Pakura, and she'll take you to Hunter J herself. Got it?" Ash said.

"Got it!" Both Champions nodded in unison.

"Wait, should we bring Jasmine and Grimsley?" Cynthia asked.

Ash shook his head. "Unlike Lance and you, they never had training. Bringing them would end up getting them injured, and also, their Pokémon may be turned to stone and stolen, her gadgets are all really high-tech. We better move now."

With that, the three headed for the elevators.

When they reached outside, Ash said, "You guys know what to do." Lance and Cynthia nodded, and Cynthia went off to find Jude and Rosaline, while Ash and Lance headed for the forest.

"Paku's in that direction." Ash checked his CommuniDex once more, and pointing.

"Got it." Lance nodded.

"I'll go this way. If all goes according to plan, we might be able to end this threat." Ash said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You be careful." Lance said to Ash.

"You too." Ash replied. He ventured into the forest, feeling somehow worried. About Lance being killed, about Phillip's current status, and them having to look for a new member. He shook his head to clear the thought. Phillip is the smartest of the group, surely he could think of a way out, and Lance has Pakura with him.

"**I pick up the smell of blood." **Pikachu pointed a paw in the general direction of the source. Ash nodded his thanks, and used his enhanced speed to reach the source. Much to his horror, he saw two people, a man and a woman. Both were stabbed at a fatal area, with the knife still sticking in the wound. The man also seemed to have a bullet wound somewhere around his diaphragm too, judging by the way he clutched to it.

"What happened?" Ash asked, crouching over to the two of them. He began to pour his aura on their wounds so they could last longer, while he gets his Gardevoir to send them to the hospital. Perhaps he could get Pakura to heal their wounds later.

"Hunter J…" Gregory panted. "We were…trying to protect…our son from her."

"She's now…after them." Penelope added. "Our sons!"

"Wait, what?" Ash was shocked

"Yeah, she did something to Phillip so he couldn't really move. We got the younger one Acer to bring him away while we try to stall her. She's too powerful, and our Pokémon are…" The woman started sobbing. "My boys!"

"Don't worry, I'll rescue Phillip." Ash promised, as he sent out his Gardevoir to send the couple to the hospital. The couple thanked him, before Gardevoir used Teleport to get them away, and Ash continued to look for the airstrip.

'Did the woman just say Phillip was her boy?' Ash thought. 'Could they be the family Phillip was condemning?'

* * *

"Acer!" Phillip watched in horror as Acer took the bullet that was meant for him. He mustered up his strength and ran up to his little brother. When he checked the severity of the wound, he realized that Acer was losing a lot of blood.

"You bitch!" Phillip spat at Hunter J, who showed off the cases containing his parents' and Acer's Pokémon. There were also a few other Pokémon with her that she had frozen, including the Freeze Pokémon Articuno. Much to his surprise, J also owned a Key Stone and a Salamencite, allowing her to Mega Evolve her signature Pokémon.

"I can't let you go free and blab that I am in this region." Hunter J said, pointing her gun at him. "Any last words?"

"Yeah, I hope you rot in the Distortion World." Phillip replied.

Just as Hunter J was about to shoot, a laser hit her hand, forcing her to let go of the gun. When she tried to retrieve it, the gun floated, and everyone watched as a hand caught the gun.

"What did I say about never let your guard down, Phil?" Pakura asked, as she floated into the scene, her Espeon and Sylveon flanking her. Hunter J looked at the latter in interest, wondering what Pokémon it was. Whatever it was, Sylveon is sure to fetch a high price.

"I'm sorry." Phillip was sheepish.

"Here." Pakura pressed a Pokéball into Phillip's hands. "Take my Gallade. You need to bring your brother to the hospital. Lance and I can take it from here."

Phillip nodded, and proceeded to ask Gallade to use Teleport, while Lance and Pakura faced Hunter J.

"So, it looks like you two decided to join the fray, Champion Lance and Princess Pakura." J remarked. "Too bad for you, I'll be the one to prevail, and I'll take that Pokémon as well." She pointed to her Sylveon.

"I won't be so sure of that." Pakura replied.

"Salamence, use Dragon Pulse on that thing!" J commanded. Much to her surprise, the Dragon Pulse did no damage at all, and Sylveon was standing there with a cute tilt of her head.

"I look forward into seeing you in _World's Dumbest Criminals_." Pakura said sarcastically. "Lance, take care of that Mega Salamence for me."

"With pleasure." Lance took out his Pokéball.

"Salamence, help me take out whatever pesky Pokémon he'll send out." Mega Salamence nodded, as J jumped off it, and proceeded to aim her cannon at Sylveon. Sylveon retaliated with a Moonblast, which Hunter J agilely dodged. She kept shooting her cannon at Sylveon, who dodged or deflected the blasts herself. Espeon also began helping out, angry at Hunter J for trying to take his mate away.

* * *

Ash, using his aura, managed to detect the location of the airship. He returned Lucario, and told Pikachu to hang tight, before using his sonic flight to get to the top of the airship. He took out his dagger, and focused his aura, before cutting a circle so he could infiltrate the ship.

When he entered, it looked empty, but Ash knew that some of J's henchmen are probably on board, as he sensed they are people inside the ship other than himself, and was able to pinpoint their location to the control room. Ash shrugged, and decided to see if he could glean information on J's current targets, or rescue the Pokémon that she may have stored here. With that thought, he started exploring the corridors.

There was a door that had a sign that said "R.R". Ash wondered what it meant, but it couldn't hurt to try. Surprisingly, the door was unlocked, but Ash knew J probably thought no one would dare touch her stuff, as she's the kind of person that screams "Touch my stuff and you die". He found himself surrounded by shelves upon shelves of binders with various labels and even file cabinets with labels stating the alphabet. Five files were already on her desk, and Ash proceeded to open it. Much to his horror, he was reading on J's next targets, and her next target was apparently Phillip's Pokémon. The client who wanted them was….

"Oh, so J has been hired by the five bosses." Ash said. "No wonder." He saw a file that has not been opened, and was apparently just delivered. When he opened it, a photo of an girl with black hair and amethyst eyes had fallen out of the file, and there was a note in an unfamiliar handwriting: _To be captured alive. _

'Seems to me that they have a base somewhere near our region, or they even infiltrated it already.' Ash thought, knowing the file contained her information. 'Wait, what's this?' There was a name in the file that said, "Experiment 072: The Aura Project.". Much to Ash's horror, he recognized this photo as a younger version of Pakura. Even with the signs of torture was clearly shown in her face, she still looked extremely adorable.

"Oh, Paku…" Ash couldn't help but whisper, before noticing that below her picture was scribbled "Amethyst Paradinight".

'So her real name's Amethyst Paradinight.' Ash thought, deciding to keep the file for himself. 'And they most likely suspect she is here, and they want her back.'

"**They'll stop at nothing to get her." **Pikachu remarked.

Ash nodded. J definitely doesn't need to read that file. With that, he left the Records Room, and looked for the Pokémon she may have kept. As far as he remembered, he only been in the airship a couple of times, but he must have a remarkable memory or reliable instincts, as he found himself opening a door, and there they were sitting on a long table.

"Oh dear…" Ash quickly pulled down the lever that kept them in stone, and the Pokémon looked around, confused when the case that kept them in disappeared, before seeing Ash.

"Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you." Ash said soothingly, before he heard footsteps, and voice talking about how they are going to admire the treasures they were going to sell.

"Stand back." Ash told the Pokémon, readying his Crystal Manipulation. When the door opened, a group of men came in, but Ash managed to get a few with his crystal shuriken. The others tried to escape, but a few globs of lava hit the top of the opening, and slowly flowed down to cover up the escape route.

"You people treat Pokémon like they are prizes to be sold, and treated them like tools to serve your own greed." Ash said, wiping the lava from his mouth. "Trampling all over their feelings and ruining their lives…how despicable."

"Don't interfere." One of the men glared at him.

Ash sighed and shook his head. "Of course I have to interfere." He replied. "As the Prince of this region, I cannot sit back and let you do whatever you want."

"I will make sure the Pokémon will have an input of what they think of you." Ash gave an evil smirk.

* * *

"What the?" J was surprised, as her cannon shattered into pieces. Her teeth started chattering slightly, as snow started to fall. She looked around for an Ice-type Pokémon, only to find none.

'Where is the snow coming from?' J thought, and then saw Pakura having her paper fan out, directing the blizzard towards her.

'She has the ability to manipulate snow?' J was surprised as she realized the source. Pakura took this opportunity to extend the blizzard to hit Mega Salamence, who got its wings by the wind cutter she mixed in it, giving Lance the opportunity to finish it off. At that point, the Mega Evolution on Salamence wore off, and J was forced to return it to her Pokéball.

"Ariados, come out and take out that Espeon!" Ariados was released from the Pokéball and faced Espeon, who had pushed Sylveon behind him.

"Espeon, no need to fight. Maybe I can control the pieces." Pakura stared at Ariados, and it turned on J instead.

'That girl would be an asset. The ability to control people to do whatever you want.' J thought, sending out her Drapion as well to take on her Ariados. 'Too bad she's an opponent.'

Pakura sent a telepathic message to ask a question to her temporary partner. 'Lance….does your Pokémon know Hidden Power?'

'Why yes, why do you ask?' Lance replied.

'Use them to unfreeze those Pokémon covered in stone. I'll use my psychic powers to get those cases.' Pakura answered.

'Got it.' Lance said in his mind.

Sylveon automatically used Fairy Wind towards Hunter J the moment she got close to her. There is no way she is getting captured by Hunter J!

"Drapion, defend me!" J shouted. Drapion jumped in front of Hunter J and took the blow, and Espeon took this opportunity to use Shadow Ball, which knocked out Drapion in an instant.

"Ariados!" J called out, but Ariados was still under Pakura's Mind Control.

"Fine, then…" J threw out two Pokéballs, which contained a Gardevoir (though it was male and no Mega Stone) and a Lilligant. The two were wearing chokers that was a device to forcibly control them.

'She must have poached it from another trainer for battling purposes.' Pakura thought. 'I know the very counter I want to use.' Pakura got in between the two Pokémon, as her hands glowed pink and extracted a pink energy ball from both Pokémon. She switched her hands and inserted the other pink energy ball for both Pokémon, and at that moment, their souls are switched.

"**What happened?" **Gardevoir asked, but it came out as "Lilligant."

"Lance, take them out." Pakura ordered, and Lance nodded, proceeding to send out his Altaria to take care of them.

"Where did you get your powers from?" J asked, gritting her teeth at her plans being easily foiled by the Princess. She was hoping to get some of these powers to herself so she can capture Pokémon without gadgets.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Pakura asked in a bored tone, and sent a tornados towards J. J dodged it, but it destroyed the incoming vehicle her minions were in, presumably killing them.

'Impressive.' J thought. 'She is extremely talented. She'll be a great ally.'

'She has good reflexes.' Pakura thought, raising her paper fan once more.

* * *

Phillip sighed, as he sat at the chair next to his brother's bed. He realized that Ash had asked his Gardevoir to bring his parents here as well, and they are currently trying to operate the bullet out of his father's diaphragm. He wondered if he should enlist Pakura's help to heal them completely.

"What am I going to do?" He whispered to the walls, because he really don't know what to think anymore. His family, the one he had dissed just the other day, had sacrificed their lives to try and bring him to safety. He watched his brother unconscious on the hospital bed, and gulped in guilt at the injuries he had sustained, beside the bullet, which the doctors had removed. Fortunately for him, it only bruised his ribs. But he can't say the same for his parents, as they are probably in critical condition from what the doctor said.

Was that how Pakura had felt when she was brought here for observation? Deciding whether to reconcile with them? Was she trying not to hate them, only to fail? Or did she only concentrate on the bad blood, allowing her to still hate them?

He noticed something on Acer's bedside. A locket. Phillip took it, and opened it, to find a picture of the whole family, and they were all smiling. It was the day their family went on a picnic before Phillip took action on his plans. Acer had insisted that Phillip to be included in the picture, and he reluctantly agreed.

Phillip knew Acer only did it to make himself feel and look good in front of his parents. However, Acer chose this picture to be in the locket itself.

'Did Acer really miss me?' Phillip thought, as he carelessly threw the locket back onto the bedside. Just then, Acer started coughing a few times, before opening his eyes. When he saw Phillip, he felt relieved.

"How do you feel?" Phillip asked.

"A little beat-up, but all right." Acer replied. "How's mum and dad?"

"In critical condition. Hunter J got their vital points." Phillip said bluntly. "Father's currently under surgery. Who knows how long it'll take."

"No…" Acer whispered. "Is there anyone who can…?"

Phillip looked away, and Acer said, "You know someone who can save them."

"I do." Phillip confirmed. "However, she's probably in the middle of her mission. I'll talk to her when she arrives to fix all of you up."

"You're angry at us, aren't you?" Acer stated. "For the way we treated you."

"After what you did today, I am not sure if all of you didn't genuinely care for me." Phillip admitted. "I guess it was because I saw with my own eyes how cruel someone can be to their own family members. Maybe at one point, I thought you wanted me dead, just like Paku's family did her."

"Dead?" Acer was incredulous, trying to sit up, but Phillip made him rest by pushing him back down. "I never wanted you dead, big brother!"

"I believe you." Phillip muttered. "It's just….why look for me now?"

"Oh, believe me, you were hard to track down, and I could only get bits and pieces of your previous locations." Acer explained. "The only thing I know was you were in the PAL Region, but I couldn't track your location because the associates there refused to give the information out. We had to wait until the announcement of that tournament to find out where you'd be. Even then, I had to secure the tickets, which were really expensive. Then again, you were the genius of the family, if you didn't want anyone to find you, then no one would. I'm really sorry if you thought we came back because of…you know…"

Acer looked nervously at Phillip, as if expecting him to snap at him again, but Phillip was sitting there with a thoughtful expression on his face. Surprisingly, Phillip said, "Ok, I accept your explanation."

Acer could hardly believe his ears. "Really?"

"I can't say you didn't care after what happened." Phillip shrugged, as he approached to adjust Acer's pillows. "I'll hear them out as well, once they recover. See what they have to say."

While Phillip was adjusting the pillows, Acer took this chance to give his brother a hug. Much to Acer's surprise and delight, Phillip returned the hug instead of tolerating it.

"Take a rest, Ace." Acer noted Phillip was using his nickname. "I'm going to retrieve my Pokémon and fight."

"But…" Acer started, and Phillip cut him off by saying, "My friends are still in there. I am going to avenge all of you by helping Paku complete her mission- to take down Hunter J for good."

With that, he rushed out of the hospital room.

"Be careful, Big Brother." Acer whispered.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Rosaline asked, as she surrounded the henchmen with a ring of fire. They turned to face the petite girl, who had a fireball on her hand, ready to throw them if possible. She smiled as she saw Jude's Pokémon using Hidden Power to revive the Pokémon who were just turned to stone.

"Let us go, girl." A man demanded. "Or you'll regret it."

"Regret what?" Rosaline pretended to check her nails. "Why don't you show me?"

At her comment, the men began retrieving their weapons, and Rosaline gestured for them to come at her. They charged towards her with their respective weapons, and Rosaline grinned as she simply held them down with telekinesis.

"Can't move?" Rosaline said cheerfully.

"Ninetales, Flamethrower on the girl!" Another man shouted. Ninetales hesitated, but obeyed what its trainer told it to do. Rosaline let the flames hit her, and the men were surprised as she seem unfazed by the flames licking her body.

"You know, you can torture the Pokémon, beat them to submission, and destroy evidence all you want." Rosaline remarked, as she approached the men, still holding them down with telekinesis. She grabbed one by the arm, effectively setting him ablaze, causing him to scream as the flames burnt away his life.

"Do you see that?" Rosaline said, as the man finally fell silent, corpse still burning. "Fire is catching. If I burn, you'll burn with me." She proceeded to extend the flames burning her body to touch the other men, and extinguish the flames on her own body, ignoring the screams that followed during the burning.

"Nice work." Jude said, as he watched them burn.

"Well, Pakura taught me that there is no mercy when you are sent in combat." Rosaline shrugged. "How is everything?" She shouted to Cynthia, who were taking on the henchmen's Pokémon.

"Don't even need to use Mega Evolution." Cynthia shouted, though the sound indicated her Pokémon were still in combat, though it was understandable as there were a lot of Pokémon to take down.

"Where's Ash, by the way?" Jude asked Cynthia.

"Still up in the airship. He'll probably hijack it and steer it to land somewhere near Hunter J." Cynthia replied.

"Still, I think Jasmine and Grimsley would flip if they find out we didn't invite them to this mission." Jude remarked.

"We can handle it." Cynthia waved them off. "There is a good reason why we didn't bring them after all."

Somewhere in the airship, the last conscious man, the pilot, wondered what took the others so long to handle one intruder. Ash saw him coming, and decided to hide behind a wall. As the man walked past Ash's hiding place, Ash pounced on him from behind, and stabbed him through the chest. He made for the control room, leaving the man to bleed to death.

Once he reached the control room, Ash spent his time trying to figure out the controls, as he had never really steered an airship before, when someone riding a Skarmory caught his eye. Much to his delight, it was Phillip. As Phillip was a technological genius, perhaps he would know how to operate the airship. With that thought, he contacted Phillip through the CommuniDex. However, there was no response, and looking closer, Ash realized Phillip's CommuniDex was turned into stone. He then resorted to telepathy instead.

'What? You're behind me?' Phillip turned to look, but saw nothing. Phillip assumed the airship had activated the stealth cloaking device that can render the ship invisible, and Ash didn't know how to deactivate it. 'Ok, hold on, I'm coming in.'

"Nice timing." Ash grinned, when Phillip entered the control room.

"Obviously I can't just sit and rest while you go out and fight." Phillip replied. "But isn't this supposed to be Paku's mission?"

"Hey, you know how resourceful J is. And how many henchmen she has under her." Ash reminded him. "She didn't want to let us in this, but decided to do so when Lance wanted to avenge his colleague she apparently killed. However, Hunter J is still hers to kill."

"So essentially, she's the mission leader?" Phillip asked, as he proceeded to figure out the controls to the airship.

"Yeah." Ash nodded. "Her orders were to kill whatever gets in our way. Excluding Pokémon, of course."

The corner of Phillip's lips twisted up in a cruel way. "That's something I'd do. Ok, Auto-pilot's off. Where do you want me to steer the airship to?"

"To where Hunter J is, preferably." Ash replied. "I'd like to see the look on her face when her airship is hijacked. Also, I don't want to miss Paku killing her."

"Ok, tell me where Paku is, then." Phillip said.

"72 degrees North West direction." Ash answered, looking at his CommuniDex.

"Roger." Phillip replied, and proceeded to steer the airship towards the direction Ash indicated.

* * *

"Wait, why don't we work together?" J asked, causing Pakura to pause her attacks. "You have skills that I could use in my Pokémon hunting services."

"And what's in it for me?" Pakura replied, bored. Although she would never join Hunter J, she'd like to hear what she has to bribe her into joining her.

"How about having this at a low price?" J revealed one of the hidden cases, which contained Articuno.

Pakura looked like she wanted to puke at the sight of the petrified Ice-type Legendary.

"Well….this is hard decision…." Pakura said to J, tilting her head as if she was really considering it.

"Just say yes. You and I, we can make millions, and rule the Pokémon World." J offered.

"…" Pakura stayed silent, as if she was considering J's deal. She approached J with a wary look, and J, thinking she was about to accept, held out her hand for a handshake. However, when Pakura's hand touched hers, J found her hand to be completely frozen, and it shattered into pieces, causing her to scream in pain as if Pakura had just cut her hand off, which technically she did.

"Think fast!" Pakura shouted, using her telekinesis to throw the Articuno case at Lance, who caught it. Lance proceeded to lower the lever, and Articuno was freed. However, Pakura noticed that Articuno's wings were pierced.

"Oh no…" Pakura approached the bird, who became agitated, thinking she was about to attack, and fired a powerful blizzard by flapping its injured wings. Pakura jumped out of the way, and the blizzard hit Hunter J instead. Hunter J was knocked off her feet.

'What power.' Lance thought, shielding himself with his cape, as his Dragon Pokémon tried to withstand the super-effective move. Just then, he heard a melody, and looked up to see Pakura looking at Articuno unblinkingly, playing a melody from her flute. Surprisingly, the Pokémon around her started to relax, and he himself also calmed down by listening to the music. The Articuno stopped attacking, and looked at Pakura curiously.

"No, stop!" Hunter J shot at Pakura with her one good hand, but she simply created a barrier to protect herself from attacks. The bullet bounced off harmlessly when it hit the barrier.

Pakura approached the bird once more, ignoring J's attempts to break the barrier, and took out the stakes that pierced Articuno's wings. Articuno screeched in pain, but Pakura placed her hands on its wings, aura flowing through it, mending its injuries. Articuno flapped its wings tentatively, and chirped happily when it didn't feel any pain.

"How dare you!" J shouted. "That was my best prize to be sold!"

"You should know better than to mess with the PAL Region." Pakura replied, and lifted her up with telekinesis. "Speaking of which I think your prizes are all gone."

"What do you mean?" J asked, frightened for the first time as she was immobilized and rendered vulnerable thanks to a girl with supernatural powers.

"I would have come after you by myself, but my friends, who have powers like me by the way, decided to take part. Of course, I can't say no, since someone has a grudge on you." She nodded to Lance, who was glaring at her as well. "And they are coming."

Much to J's horror, her airship landed, and two people emerged. The next thing she knew, a chain came and wound around her, and no matter how much she struggled, the chains won't give way.

"Nice timing." Pakura said, as Ash and Phillip entered the scene. The chain were apparently extended from Ash's middle finger.

"Still playing with Hunter J, I see. I thought you'd kill her by now." Phillip remarked.

"I do like my targets being scared of when they'd die." Pakura shrugged. "Ash, keep holding her down. I'd like to carve every single pain the Pokémon she captured felt. If you to would like, you can have your inputs on her too." With that, she approached Hunter J, a knife in her hand.

"This is going to be good." Phillip grinned and approached Hunter J, electricity crackling in his hand, as Hunter J trembled in fear of what was in store for her.

The screams that followed were music to everyone's ears.

* * *

"Nice work." Rosaline later said, as she started to incinerate J's body with her Fire Manipulation. Ash and Phillip grinned, but Pakura merely nodded, as she cleaned her knife with a cloth, as her clothes looked like they were dumped in red dye. Rosaline noted this was one of the times she was almost rational around her.

"I'm going to report to William on the mission details after we visit the hospital." Pakura announced.

"You do that." Ash replied, nodding.

"What an adventure." Cynthia stretched. "Training was worth it." While she was doing her part, she managed to block someone who was attacking her from behind, and defeated him in hand-to-hand combat.

"Now you know why we train." Phillip nodded in approval. As they exited the forest, Pakura seemed to sense something, and turned invisible. She also touched her Sylveon and Espeon so they'd turn invisible with her. Everyone was puzzled at her actions, until Lance saw his cousin and his other fellow Dragon Masters entering their line of sight.

"Seen Pakura?" Drake asked. It was apparently they saw the smoke from Rosaline's Fire Manipulation, and assumed they were practicing for their battle. They must have practiced hard as well, as they looked somewhat wary.

"No, we haven't." Ash snapped. "You're still looking for her?"

"Yeah, we want a battle." Much to Ash's irritation, Iris popped out from behind Drayden.

"Can't you just battle each other?" Jude asked, giving them a funny look.

"Of course not! We did it like a thousand times! We want to step up our game!" Clair cried.

"Didn't she already battle and defeat the two of you?" Phillip nodded to Clair and Drayden.

"We want a Dragon-on-Dragon battle!" The said two said in unison.

"Isn't Altaria part Dragon?" Rosaline piped up.

"It doesn't count!" Clair replied.

"Why not, Clair?" Lance asked. "It counts. Altaria is Dragon-type, and it is also Altaria's primary type."

"I….Just tell us where she is." Clair apparently couldn't find an argument for Lance's point.

"We don't know, and even if we did, we won't tell you." Rosaline snapped, as they headed for the hospital at Phillip's request. Lance gave Clair a look, and shook his head, before following the others.

"Thanks a lot." Pakura turned visible again once they reached the hospital, along with Sylveon and Espeon. Her Elites nodded.

"Paku, I need your help with something." Phillip led her to his brother's ward, where Acer was awake and waiting, probably for Phillip to return.

"Big brother!" Acer was smiling. "Thank goodness you're alright!"

"Acer, meet my Elite Leader, Pakura. She's the current Princess of this region, and she'll be the one to heal you." Phillip mumbled, and Acer was confused about the healing him part. "I'll explain more about us later."

"I thought you said you didn't know them?" Pakura was puzzled.

"I lied. He's my little brother. I said I didn't because…." He trailed off, looking down on the floor in shame. Acer gave a sad smile, but was happy he finally got his acknowledgment that they were family.

"I understand." Pakura replied, giving Phillip a squeeze on the shoulder, and inadvertently extracting his memories of what happened. Pakura blinked and remarked, "I guess you had second thoughts after what they did for you."

Phillip nodded, as Pakura approached Acer, and placed her hands on his midsection. Acer felt a cooling sensation, and his flesh knitting together, closing the wound that he got. Before he knew it, he was as good as new.

"Whoa!" Acer was amazed, as he tested his body, and knew his condition was back to normal. "Amazing!"

"Come on." Phillip, Pakura and Acer left the ward, and saw the rest of his friends at the corridor.

"Are these your…?" Acer started to ask.

"Yeah, some of them are my fellow Elites." Phillip said, as he led them to his parent's ward. Both of them were in a comatose state.

Phillip nodded, as Pakura went over to heal Gregory and Penelope. Phillip watched as their injuries, even the fatal ones, disappeared within a minute, and they looked like they never got into a fight at all. Phillip went over and checked their vital signs, and as they did, he watched as his parents opened their eyes. As soon as they saw Phillip, Penelope engulfed him in a hug, and was delighted when Phillip returned them.

"Phillip! You're ok!" Penelope cried.

"Yeah…" Phillip said awkwardly. "I…I'm sorry."

"No, Phillip, we should be sorry. Sorry that we weren't better parents to you." Gregory replied, patting him on the cheek.

"I guess I refused contact with you and treated you like strangers because I thought you wanted me dead." Phillip sounded like he was in the verge of tears.

"Oh, no Phillip! While we did some terrible things in the past, we would never want you dead!" Penelope cried, patting Phillip's back soothingly.

"I guess your visit's a waste. I lost the tournament already." Phillip muttered.

"You'll always be a winner in our family." Gregory assured him.

That did the trick, and Phillip started crying. Gregory and Acer smiled, and joined in the family hug, glad that their son/brother was back.

"I'm glad for them." Ash whispered, watching the scene. Rosaline was also crying for them as well, and was comforted by Jude.

"Yeah." Cynthia replied, clinging to his arm, and leaning her head against him.

"I'll go report to William on the details of the mission. Tell Phillip I'm glad for him." Pakura said, and left the hospital room.

Unknown to her, a certain legendary blue bird was watching her, and as soon as she started to make her way towards the Hunter Association's building, it flapped its wings, and flew after her.

* * *

Blindsided. That was how Grimsley and Jasmine felt when Acer told them once they were released from the hospital. They flew up the steps in the Hunter Association's Headquarters, minds racing a mile a minute, and burst right in the middle of a meeting between Pakura, Logia, and William. Apparently, Pakura was in the middle of giving her report.

"Why didn't you tell us you were going in the mission? We could've helped you!" Grimsley said.

Pakura barely looked up from the screen, holding up a hand to indicate to the two that she would handle this. "At least you are safe. Three people from our side nearly died during the mission, and they don't know any combat skills."

"But we missed all the fighting!" Jasmine was slightly hysterical. "You should have called us- we could have protected them!" She wasn't one to brag, but that much should be true. "You let Cynthia and Lance go."

"Cynthia has been showing up for weapon and hand-to-hand combat training with me and later Ash. Lance is a member of the G-men and he have a degree of skill in these two fields, so I was confident they can manage themselves." said Pakura. "Tell me, have you have any training in these two areas before?"

Jasmine and Grimsley had to admit they didn't. But they weren't going to back down next time any one of them gets a mission as huge as this.

"But what about Pokémon battling?" Grimsley countered. "We're Elite Four members and Gym Leaders, don't say we don't have skill in that."

"It's true, you are smart and brave and a good shot in Pokémon battling." William interrupted. "But we need soldiers in the field. People who can fight by themselves without Pokémon. You two don't know the first thing about executing orders, and you're not exactly at your physical peak. This is how our region works."

"But you can't leave us behind while you all go and fight." Jasmine had tears in her eyes. "I have someone I love going on these missions, and I want to be assured that someone has got his back."

"Should they begin training?" Logia asked Pakura.

"They should begin training with any one of us. Those three also need to catch up on their training anyway. That way they can be prepared. After all, they have someone they wish they would have a turn to protect." Pakura said, before saying to the two of them, "I'll talk to the others. Now go, I'm in the middle of a meeting."

That was it. That was the most they could hope for. They guessed it was their fault, as they didn't think training with weapons is such a priority, and sometimes scoffed at Pakura for training every day. And now they were left out because of it.

A few minutes later, Pakura sensed someone coming, and she groaned as she slammed her head on the table, weeping a little at her fate. William and Logia looked at each other, before the door burst open to reveal the Dragon Masters with a plus one (Iris) who were after her ever since her status as the member of the Dragon Duo was exposed.

"Who dares to interrupt the meeting?" William said in his strict voice, slamming the table for emphasis.

"Who are you? And who do you think you are, interrupting the meeting like this?" Logia asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We thought it was the…bathroom!" Clair improvised.

"I'll handle these guys." Logia shook his head, as there is actually a sign outside that said, "Meeting in Progress", but they ignored it because they knew Pakura was in there.

Two minutes later, Logia physically threw the four of them (Iris included) out of the back door.

"And if you dare come in again without a good reason, I won't hesitate to use force!" Logia hissed, as he slammed the door, and make his way back to the meeting room.

"Two of us should wait for her at the front door, and two at the back. And once she comes out, we grab hold of her, and drag her off to battle." Iris whispered.

"Good idea." The others nodded, and went to their assigned spots. However, they forgot that Pakura was also a part Psychic specialist, which means she can counter that using teleport.

* * *

"Did you get your battle?" Brock asked, but seeing Iris' furious look on her face was answer enough.

"When we found her, she got the two people with her to throw us out!" Iris fumed. "I don't know why she can't pause the meeting to battle us, she's the Princess, isn't she?"

"Maybe she's really busy?" Cilan suggested.

"Cilan, whose side are you on?" Iris snapped. "All I want is a battle from her. Is it that difficult? Is she's afraid to battle or something? Afraid that she'd lose to me?"

"Yeah, maybe the Dragon Princess is weaker than you think." May nodded. "So why bother asking her for a battle?"

"Because I'm going to take that tiara off her head, of course!" Iris exclaimed. "If she is really as weak as you say, and afraid to battle, I will force her to battle and take the Princess title from her, and first thing I'll do is release Misty and demand that Champion Red return Manaphy to you."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" May squealed. "Trip, what do you think?"

"I think they should also admit their crimes of stealing your Pokémon, and hand them over to you. Throw them in jail while you're at it." Trip scoffed.

"See Iris, you got your supporters." Max grinned.

"Just you wait, Dragon Princess Pakura." Iris seethed. "I will force you to battle, and once I win I will take your Princess title away from you." The Princess can't evade them for long….right?

Unknown to them, Pakura had heard everything via her Surveillance Paper Dolls ability.

"I don't like battling unless I have to." Pakura sighed. "Why can't you Dragon Masters get this in your thick heads?" She sensed someone, and shouted, "Espeon, Psychic!"

Espeon nodded, and Lance yelped, dropping a box, as he was lifted into the air. Pakura walked over to the box, and raised her eyebrows as she realized it contained the Prom Queen Glamour Gown for her Usuki doll, with a note, "Go to the dance party with me?"

'Oh man. How did he know I wanted that?' Pakura thought, watching Lance still floating in the air thanks to Espeon's Psychic, and giving her a sheepish smile.

"Normally, I'd decline bribes, but since it's from a Usuki Doll series that I wanted, I'll make an exception." Pakura muttered, loud enough for Lance to hear. "Besides, I'd rather face one annoying person than four."

It took all of Lance's will not to cheer with joy, despite being held up with Psychic.

* * *

"Sorry guys, Paku's orders." Ash said. He was standing outside the cells that Jude, Rosaline and Phillip were in. The three of them were sent in after dinner, and Ash decided to stay with them for a while. "It's fine." Jude replied. "If I use my Night Vision, it looks like daytime anyway."

"Yeah. Something good happened to me today, if she needs to punish us like this to feel good, then so be it." Phillip added, thinking back on how Jasmine apologized for indirectly causing him to be in danger, but Acer said if it wasn't for that fact, they wouldn't try to save him, and if they didn't, Phillip would probably still sceptical, so Jasmine talking to him technically worked in helping them reconcile.

"Just be grateful she is occupied with judging the Semi-finals of the PAL Contest tonight to ask Ash to bring her here so she can laugh at us." Rosaline shuddered.

"Yeah, she has to put up the usual personality in front of the audience now." Jude mused. "Hide the fact that her sanity isn't exactly there."

"Anyway, I found a file in Hunter J's airship, you know. Apparently, she is supposed to poach a human after completing her current mission successfully." Ash said, worry lacing his voice.

"What, is she dehumanizing people now?" Rosaline asked.

"Something like that. But you won't be able to guess who gave her that mission." Ash whispered.

"Who?" Phillip asked.

"The five bosses." Ash said grimly, and Rosaline gasped.

"What did they want?" Rosaline asked.

"Their weapon. The aura weapon they had perfected." Ash answered, and he heard someone punching the wall. Probably Jude from the looks of it.

"I hate it how they are seeing her as their weapon to be used only." Jude hissed. "Probably wanted Hunter J to use her famous cannon to turn her to stone and sell her to them."

"I don't know if they know her alias by now, but as long as they do not know who stole her, I am sure she'll be safe." Ash said. "The only thing they know was her hair colour and eye colour, and her real name."

"Well, black hair is pretty common." Phillip remarked. "And what is more, purple is also not a rare eye colour."

"So, what's her real name?" Rosaline asked.

"Amethyst Paradinight." Ash answered, and the three paused. Paradinight….it sounded familiar, as Jude has said, "Now how do I know that name?"

"I know." Phillip snapped his fingers. "The Paradinights were among the profiles in the Hunter website under the Blackthorn City thing." Apparently, Phillip had looked through their profiles at one point.

"They must be loyal Team Rocket agents though, probably an Executive." Rosaline frowned. "How else would they be able to call Giovanni himself to come down to take Pakura all those years ago?"

"I don't know, but her currently mental state may make her vulnerable to them. She'll need to be watched carefully." Ash said. "Who knows where they are now."

* * *

_Ash found himself in an office, though he knew it was either temporary or they didn't stay long enough, for it wasn't decorated with personal stuff. Someone was sitting on the high roller chair, but the back was turned so Ash couldn't see who was sitting on the chair. Ash could tell by the sleeve that he was wearing a business suit, though._

_A knock on the door, and the man said, "Come in." _

_The door opened to reveal a bespectacled woman with black hair and light red eyes. _

"_How is everything, Matori?" The man asked the bespectacled woman. _

"_Hunter J never contacted us regarding the Aura Project mission." Matori reported. "Our sources believe that she was killed during her previous mission." _

"_What?" The man turned around, and to Ash's disgust, it was Giovanni. The very person that had ruined Pakura's childhood, and dehumanized her as a weapon to Team Rocket. _

"_I'm very sorry, boss." Matori said, closing her eyes in shame. "That is the only logical conclusion the others could come up with." _

"_Damn that little boy for taking our weapon away." Giovanni gritted his teeth. "If only he didn't rescue her, we could have still had her in our clutches. And I could have executed my…other plans for her." _

"_What other plans?" Matori was curious. _

"_You do not know this, Matori, but she was quite a cute one." Giovanni mused. "I was planning to break her further by selling her to various men and earn a profit. That way she's be more submissive. The more she was, the better it would be, and she'd never be able to escape…but that boy ruined everything!" _

"_Do you know who the boy is?" Matori asked. _

"_No…unfortunately. But our goal now is to find Amethyst Paradinight, and capture her alive. Make her submit, and get rid of those pesky PAL Elite Four members." Giovanni sneered at that thought. _

"_Any orders for me, boss?" Matori enquired. _

"_Yes. Send a message to our subordinates. Find out where Amethyst Paradinight is, and find out the identity of the boy that stole her away from me. I'm going to kill the boy myself." Giovanni ordered. Just then, the phone rang, and Giovanni answered. _

"_Alright, I'll be there." He closed the phone, and said to Matori, "I'm going to a strategy meeting with the other four. You do what I told you." _

_Matori bowed, and left the office. _

"Gah!" Ash sat up onto the bed. The dream had been unexpected, as he had been battling nightmares for the past few days. At that moment, the connecting door opened, and an irate Pakura glared at Ash. Apparently, she heard Ash shout, and it woke her up, as she was an extremely light sleeper.

"What now?" Pakura demanded.

"Nightmare, that's all." Ash waved her off. "Go back to sleep."

Careful not to rouse Pikachu or Lucario, Pakura stepped into the room with her Skitty, who was awake as well, and sat beside Ash. She touched his hand, and remarked, "You're cold." before taking the blanket Ash had around his waist, and wrapped it around all three of them, enveloping him in her warmth and Skitty's furry heat. "You can tell me, you know. I've been the one hearing all about your dreams, haven't I?"

"Yeah. I had another one of those dreams again. This time, it's about Giovanni."

"What about him?" Pakura asked, concealing her rage.

"He's looking to kill Shiki because he stole you. Sent his subordinates to find you, and capture you alive to take us out." Ash whispered. "He doesn't know you're a part of the Elite Four, though. He called you Amethyst Paradinight."

Pakura took the news of her real name very well, as she said, "I think I'll only reveal my real name later on, after the Pokémon World Championship ends."

Ash nodded, as Pakura went on, "Giovanni probably thinks we would try to keep a low profile, not knowing we have our own plans."

"Speaking of plans, he was angry you were stolen, because he was planning to use you to make a profit, and make you more submissive so you'd never betray them."

"Let me guess….selling me." Pakura said dryly, and Ash nodded, confirming her guess was right.

"Of course. Giovanni would have gotten a really good price for me. Who won't want to have an adorable, submissive, and pure little girl to warm up their beds?" Pakura asked sarcastically. "Benzene thought the same as well when I grew out."

That sounded more like the old Pakura, and Ash was grateful for it. It was almost as if she never had emotional breakdowns or mood swings that affected her personality.

"We all need you here, you know. I guess I worry that anytime, someone would be here to try and capture you."

"With you all taking turns to watch me, and me being as powerful as I am, do you think it'd be easy to take me? As the Champion, I think if you want to keep me safe, you can. When we created the Elite Four as the Dragon Princess, Shiki's wish was that the Elite Four members and the future Champion would be united and watch one another's backs when the times comes, and he passed the wish down to all of us in his death. Besides, I am sure Cynthia and the others won't give up without a fight."

Ash felt the kind of relief that follows an actual solution. He was too busy worrying about his enemies that he did not even think about who his teammates are. Now, a new kind of confidence is lighting up inside him because he thought he finally know who Shiki is, and what he fought for, and who he really is. Surely someone who have caused Team Rocket trouble time and again could think of a way to protect Pakura until the final confrontation, just like how Shiki did for years.

* * *

Ash woke up to Pakura knocking at the door, reminding him they had a busy schedule ahead. For instance, they had to film their next PokéVision video and tape a new episode of their webshow, PAL Online for their fans. Ash nodded, and proceeded to freshen himself up, and asked Pakura if she was coming out to breakfast.

There was silence, before Pakura said she rather stay in and eat, if he wouldn't mind. Ash was puzzled, until he heard shouting, and he recognized it as Cynthia's voice.

"What's going on, Cynthia?" Ash yawned, as he put on his hood for good measure. "You know we always sleep in on a non-battle day." He paused as he saw just who she was shouting at, which also made him thank Arceus he did not just walk out in his nightclothes…or in his T-shirt and boxer shorts, for that matter.

"Not again!" Ash shouted, not caring if it was against the rules of etiquette, as sitting at their living room couch again, was none other than the Dragon users. "What are you doing here so early in the morning? We haven't even started breakfast." He asked, though he knew it was already 10 plus.

"We're here to ask her for a battle." Clair informed him calmly. "Surely she's free as she doesn't have to battle today."

"She's sleeping." Ash said curtly.

"Then wake her up." Drake looked at him like the answer was obvious.

"I wouldn't do that." Ash replied, getting tired of this. "She gets cranky when she doesn't get her sleep." It was a lie, but he rather do it to compensate for Pakura's lack of rest lately, and those three are not helping with them pestering her for a battle, inconveniencing others in the process.

Clair, not listening, stood up, and made her way towards the doors, shouting for Pakura to come out, and knocking on the doors to figure out which was her room.

"You know she's a former Dragon Master, right?" Ash sighed to Drake and Drayden. "And she hasn't been battling with her Dragon/Psychic Pokémon for five years."

"Well, once a Dragon Master, always a Dragon Master." Drayden replied.

"Then this applies to you I guess. Once a loser, always a loser?" Ash asked sarcastically, as he heard Clair yelling for her to come out of her room and battle them.

"Ok, that's it." Ash had enough, and teleported the three Dragon users someplace else.

* * *

**NOTICE**

_From now on, anyone that is not part of the PAL Elite Four is banned from entering the twelfth floor.  
Anyone who wishes to have special permission for access must speak to me (Red Satoshi) or any of the other PAL Elite members, and it must be for a really good reason. _

Ash had pinned this notice on the noticeboards located at the lobby, and every single floor to get the message across. Seriously, Pakura is busy with other important stuff, why do they think she would make time for them for a battle, when she dislikes battling, and interaction in general?

Sure, it's a huge honour to battle either member of the Dragon Duo, but they were being self-centred, as if the Dragon Duo owed them a battle, which they didn't, considering they never met until the Pokémon World Championships began.

"Everything in place?" Ash asked Pakura, who came out of her room carrying a clipboard. She was wearing a cerulean blue dress with a gold belt around her waist area. She was also wearing grey leggings along with matching boots, complete with a gold bracelet patterned with flames.

Her Key Stone was embedded in the black choker she was wearing around her neck, and her fringe barely concealed the platinum circlet she was wearing at her forehead, and it was designed in such a way that it looked like two dragons were about to eat the circular jewel that was in the middle. Ash recognized this as one of the outfits she wore back in her Dragon training days.

"New look?" Phillip asked, pausing from setting up the props for their webshow. They had been let out of the dungeon earlier after Ash teleported the Dragon Masters to who-knows-where.

"No point hiding now everyone knows." Pakura replied curtly.

Jude whistled, as Pakura looked great in her Dragon Master outfit, and more badass as well. "Looks good on you, though." He remarked. Rosaline nodded her agreement.

Pakura nodded her thanks, and said, "Anyway, main topic for today is how we are getting along with the guests so far, and how the guests are settling in our region. Perhaps we can tape an interview with one of the love interests…that is, if they would agree to one."

"I think to be fair, we get Lance?" Ash suggested. "After all, he isn't dating any of us."

"Yet." Lance's voice called out. He had special permission to access the PAL Elite floors, like the other love interests for reasons unknown. Cynthia was sitting on a couch reading a magazine, as she wanted to see how they tape their webshow.

"Whatever, useless deadweight." Pakura glared at Lance, who turned back and smiled at her.

"Hey, Ash, we're ready to film." Rosaline called out.

"Ok then, let's get started." Ash replied. "Everyone in position!"

Unknown to them, a certain blue Freeze Pokémon had flown in through the window, and was perched at the dining room table, watching the group, particularly a certain Princess with its circular red eyes.

**BP: No, I am not bashing the Dragon users, it's just a running gag for Pakura**

** Ok, so I heard the Pokémon Sun &amp; Moon are coming out, and it may be a new generation. I just don't get why they can't let Ash win the Pokémon League for once for God 's sake. Seriously, after how many years already, I really want something different for a change, and there is this new region to worry about if I don't write Heartsong Symphony before Ash finishes travelling in Kalos. **

**So speaking of which, do you have any idea what placing in the Kalos League should I give Ash before he travels to the PAL Region (like semi-finals, or finals but lost, or won), or should I somehow write about Ash finishing his exploration of this mysterious new region before I write this fic? Or should I put the new Pokémon found in this new region into PAL so it'd look like as if it came from there? What do you think? Do tell me in the reviews, because these questions are flowing in my head and it's driving me crazy!**

**Ok, for the travelling companion poll, here are the results so far: **

**Pakura: 9 votes**

**Phillip: 4 votes**

**Rosaline: 4 votes**

**Jude: 3 votes**

**Seems to me Pakura is leading the polls so far. But if I can vote, my vote would totally go to Pakura, because for one, she can cook. Second reason is because she would have a goal- to become PAL Duchess (She isn't PAL Duchess yet as at that time, her fiancé died pretty recently), but the choice is up to my readers. Anyway, please continue voting! **

**P.S: When do you suggest I close this poll? **

**Anyway, do review! And do give me ideas on how Pakura should avoid the Dragon users who are after her for a battle for subsequent chapters, or if she should battle any of them (If she somehow decides to battle them, that is). Check out my Deviantart for some pictures I made, and if you have any questions related to my PAL Fanfiction Project, please ask via PM or review or comment on my Devianart posts, and I'll answer in my next Deviantart post.**

**I'll try my best with the PAL Series Wikia, but do help out though, so that the wikia doesn't collect dust. **

**Also, who do you want to win the PAL Contest? **

**A: Drew**

**B: Zoey**

**C: Marina (The Legend of Thunder) **

**D: Nando **

**(These four are the ones who made it to the semi-finals) **

**Do favourite, follow and review! **


	19. Another mission, the cousin spat, abuse

**BP: So I received the following review from someone who called themselves A smart person, although I might want to add an apostrophe to the word smart: **

**Can I just point out how insulting you are when it comes to criticism. It serves a purpose, to help the story improve. If you don't like it as you say in profile and I quote from your profile: **

**"Note: I hate people who criticize others' work. If you don't like it, why read in the first place? To me, flamers who criticize with a guest name is a coward, and do not care for others feelings and considers their taste of stories as standard. Don't like, don't read, simple as that, you don't have to hurt others' feelings you know. Everyone has their own style of writing, you don't have to criticize the ones you don't like. I think those people need to get a life. I do not respect anyone who is like this, even if they are my elders."**

**Judging by that, and I SERIOUSLY hope not, you sound like someone who cannot take criticism at all. You sound like someone who is constantly in their safe space only allowing what you want to hear in because in your mind 90% of criticism is some form of harassment and only want "great story update pls". If that truly is the case, then boo fucking hoo for you. **

**As for the story, the one thing I hate about these kinds of stories is that the execution of them is always wrong, and this seems to be no exception. Brilliant work at making Ash overpowered as fuck, normally if Ash was to get stronger and smarter then he should definitely not be miles ahead of Cynthia of all people. If he's supposed to be the Champion of the PAL Region then he is ridiculously stupid at times despite being a calmer and smarter person, especially in regards to the Dragon Duo case.**

**Pakura is an absolutely great example of a Tsundere Sue by the way I really appreciate that aspect of it. Especially after we find out that she is the Dragon Princess, she knows that Lance knows and yet refuses to talk about it with him. Her biggest problem is acceptance, she needs to accept the fact that Shiki is gone and needs to be told that upright.**

**The other members of the PAL Elite Four are alright though I'm not necessarily getting invested in any of them.**

**If I don't see this review about the story in several days then my point will be proven about how you sound like you cannot take criticism.**

**Response: Ok first, I apologize if it insults some of you and I implied I can't take criticism. When I say criticism, I actually meant those who personally insults the stories without any offer of how to improve them. Emphasize on the word "without". Perhaps our definition is different, as for me constructive criticism is an advice on improvements, and not outright criticism, as they help me improve on my stories. However, I still stand on this that if you don't like the way I write or the plot in general, and don't have any advice to improve on it, leave it alone. It's simple. **

**Ok, the definition of criticism is "the expression of disapproval of someone or something on the basis of perceived faults or mistakes." Sure, everyone makes mistakes, and people would jump in to point them out. However, note in my profile I did not add the word "Constructive". **

**On the contrary, I can take constructive criticism, but however, your criticism doesn't have an advice of improvement. That is the difference between your critical review and other constructive reviews, which not only point out flaws, but actually give advice, and how to improve on mistakes. The former type is people who I cannot stand…like you. **

**Oh, of course. You don't even have an account or never wrote stories before. But I still say you're a coward, using a guest name. If you want to say something, say it with a real penname, and say it to my face personally. No need to shout it to all the readers out there. If you're smart, you should know that. You call yourself smart, but using a guest name is real low, even for a self-proclaimed smart person like you. But just to let you know, there are trolls out there who think their style is the standard style, and hate other writers who doesn't follow their standards. **

**I would like to emphasize that I was only in high school when I typed this note. I have been bullied during my entire high school career, so don't you dare say I cannot take criticism. I have been criticised for four WHOLE years, and if you are smart, you shouldn't think I can't take criticism. **

**Prove what? Do you know why I delete these type of reviews? Oh, it's simple. That is because I listen to the advices of my friends and family, to do it. Are you saying I shouldn't follow their advice? **

**Oh, so my characters are overpowered. As you know, all of them (except Rosaline) knows what a loss feels like, and uses it as their motivation to perform better. It's just like how someone from a poor country who has no education finally gets a chance to go to school. They almost always do better than the ones who got their education all their life. Do you know why? Because they are much more motivated to work harder and treasure what they have. I applied the same concept here. Rosaline's a special case, though. **

**Who says Ash can't be stronger than Cynthia? It's like in the Pokémon Games, how you started out as a beginning player, and finally defeating the Champion. It's the same thing. What gives you the right to say I can't apply this here?**

**So you're saying Pakura is a Tsundere Sue. Erm…first of all, she's a Kuudere, and do you know if I were to grade her, she would have failed in teamwork and positivity? And I did add some fears, such as the fear of water, and she is bad in repairing even the simplest of stuff? Besides, she's not entirely sane, like I said a few times. She still lost out to Ash, didn't she? It's not as if I made her more powerful than Ash. It's not as if I made her flawless. She is also a very complicated person, even I don't understand her, and I'm the writer. **

**I can just say this: Pakura is able to trick and manipulate her own Elites and Ash during the Mysteries Arc, which is why Ash wasn't able to figure out who the Dragon Princess was. You can say she is cunning, though her intelligence is inferior to Phillip's. If I were to rank her in terms of intelligence, she'd probably get second place. **

**For your information, I am not hiding in a safe zone. Not anymore, anyway. I'm a trainee teacher, I take care of children. As if I never heard a criticism before, but I can tell the difference between constructive ones and non-constructive ones. The latter ones….as mysterypink98 would say, "I do not tolerate flamers as they're just as bad as bullies. If you have nothing better to say, keep your mouth shut. I don't mind constructive criticism." I want to say, I think the same too. Besides, I was too lazy to rewrite my profile. I'll find time and do it sometime. **

**Yeah for someone who calls themselves "A smart person" you sure are ignorant. Ignorant of the fact that I was actually bullied extensively in high school which is why I hid. I am sure I said this before in my other author's notes (probably not Pokémon). Who wouldn't, being a victim? Furthermore, it has been four whole years since I wrote that, and you should know that I already graduated from high school already, just that I didn't have time to rewrite my profile other than to make some additions about my age and stuff. You seriously want to hold my four-year-ago mindset against me?**

**Besides, I am not the only one writing these types of fanfic. Are you going to flame the others too? I just hope your flaming attitude don't apply in real life, because if you behave like this, you'd eventually find yourself leading a very lonely existence (Seriously, who would like someone who proclaim themselves to be smart). The term for you would be a keyboard warrior, and a daft one at that. You don't know me, so don't try to jump to conclusions. **

**Speaking of mysterypink98, hmm….she didn't wish me a happy birthday when my birthday arrived. I was a tad bit disappointed, you see, because I was hoping for a text from her or something. **

**A lot of you may hate me for what I say, but if you have a problem, PM me. Don't need to shout it to the other readers. Your problem is with me, not them. Sorry for sounding insensitive or narrow-minded, though. **

**Anyway, onward with the story. **

"So, all ready for the interview?" Cynthia asked Lance. They had a thirty minute break before the taping of the interview after finishing the filming of their episode.

"I'm awful. Pakura made me practice in front of her, and she called me a stuttering moron." Lance muttered, looking at a smouldering Pakura who was cuddling her happy and oblivious Eevee.

Cynthia thought about this a moment. "Why don't you just be yourself?" Cynthia suggested.

"Myself?" Lance was incredulous. "Pakura said I tend to say stupid things. I don't want to make a spectacle of myself. I already did it in front of the other Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions."

"Well, you do….around Pakura." Cynthia said with a grin. "Can't blame you on that, since you are oh-so-in-love with her. I don't find you so. The members of your fan base adores you. You are almost in the PAL Elite circle, they allowed you to hang out with them, right? As for the locals in PAL, well, they can't stop talking about you. No one can help but admire your spirit."

His spirit. That is a new thought. Maybe he was a fighter in a brave way. He knew he wouldn't give up until he wins Pakura over. Just then, Ash called him over and Lance knew his interview was about to start. It shouldn't be any different from the ones he had been through, right? He looked over to Pakura, who shot him a look that said, "Don't screw this up."

A space has been cleared in the sitting room for the interview, and there were a handful of cameras around to tape it.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Jude gave him a funny look. He was supposed to be the interviewer. "You look like you're about to…" He looked over at Lance's line of vision, which happened to be Pakura, who was eating chocolate chip cookies and a pot of tea provided specifically for her at the table next to her, as they all knew she had been the most drained from everything that has happened and the fact that she had been starving herself and not sleeping from the beginning of the tournament hasn't helped her.

What was more, the stress of her past had caught up to her and her grief of losing her fiancé has not really dissipated yet, so they had decided to provide something for her to soothe her a bit while they film.

"Oh…I see. Trying to impress her?" Jude smirked.

Lance groaned. Was he that obvious?

"Don't try too hard to impress her." Jude advised. "Anyway, we all want to eat lunch, so let's get this over and done with, yeah?"

Lance nodded, as he took his place at one of the plush chairs. However, much to his disappointment, Pakura left, saying something about a break. No one said anything, since she isn't supposed to be on camera anyway.

Rosaline counted backwards from five, and just like that, they are already taping the film. Jude settled himself more comfortably in the chair, and said, "So, Lance…..welcome to our show."

Lance smiled slightly. "I'm glad to be a guest star."

"So tell me Lance, how did you feel when you realized there was still one more set of Elite Four and Champion in another region, and that this region is the one working behind the scenes, supporting all the other regions?" Jude asked.

"I admit, it was a real surprise when I learnt about this region. It was never mentioned in League meetings, and we never really met you, only knew you guys as world famous people. We never dreamt that you all would be Elite members yourselves." Lance replied truthfully.

"It must be quite a change for you, when you came to this region you never really heard of." Jude stated.

"Yes, it was. There were new Pokémon I never seen before, and I never dreamt that there would be a new Pokémon type here- the Fairy type, and that your Elite would have a Fairy-type specialist. Took most of us off guard, especially my cousin Clair when she went up against the Mega Altaria." Lance mumbled.

"Oh yeah, we have seen the Top 32 footage, that was a clean wipe out." Jude agreed. "What did you like the most ever since you came here?"

"I do like the transport and the accommodations, for one. The food was also one of the best I ever tasted. Not to mention it's naturally beautiful and lots to see." Lance shrugged. "It's hard to decide which one I like the most."

"Well, our region isolated ourselves for a reason." Jude laughed sheepishly. "So do we, actually. But some of you are beginning to grow on us."

"Yeah, I could tell." Lance nodded. "Despite what you say, I think most of you are very friendly. You do initiate the social interaction at times. I am sure all the others agree." He paused to let some of the words of agreement from the others be recorded by the camera.

"You don't know how much this means to us." Jude smiled.

"I also like the people here." Lance replied, smiling back. "I never thought a girl here would get my attention as well. You can say I developed a crush on her a few days in. However, I'm pretty sure she doesn't even care that I'm alive."

'Lance is getting carried away.' Everyone who was off-camera thought.

"Well, handsome lad like you. We should know there would be a special someone." Jude said wryly, deciding to play along.

"Yeah, she had another fellow, the Dragon Prince you know, and a lot of boys and even older men like her." Lance sighed. "I don't think I really have a chance, after all, she hates my origins."

"Then show her you're different." Jude said encouragingly. "She can't turn you down, right?"

"I don't know. This probably won't help in my case." Lance shook his head.

"Why ever not?" said Jude, mystified.

Lance turned as red as his hair, and stammered, "Because….I already screwed up my first date with her. Everyone who watched the Top 8 knows that."

For a moment, the cameras hold on to his downcast face, before Jude said, "You're not talking about the regional Princess, Pakura, are you?" They didn't really think Lance was serious about this, since they dismissed his affection for her as some sort of crush he'd get over with, as she wasn't a stranger in receiving these types of feelings.

"Bad luck, isn't it?" Jude said, and Lance nodded. "Can't blame you, though, for falling for our own Elite Leader. Did she know?"

"Probably dismissed it as not very serious." Lance mumbled.

Jude turned to the camera. "And that is the end of the interview. It looks like Johto Champion Lance has finally fallen for a girl's charms. May our hearts be with him as he tries to win her over."

When the cameras turned off, Rosaline blurted, "What the hell was that?"

Jude grinned and said, "I think this might boost our ratings. I mean, a man who normally don't notice girls has an eye on someone, and is trying to win her heart? Priceless! So glad to have chosen you to do the interview."

"He just made Paku even more desirable." Ash said thoughtfully. "Lance, who doesn't even look at girls with a second glance, telling everyone he wanted somebody? You just achieved something most other guys can't."

"Pakura would probably say Lance would never be half the person Shiki was." Phillip said.

'I don't know why I am always compared to Shiki.' Lance thought miserably. 'I got my own achievements too!'

"You'll need to step up your game if you want to win her heart." Ash commented.

Lance nodded, just as the smells of their lunch waft in from the dining room. "Come on, let's eat." Ash suggested, and they went to the table and take their places. They started on the cream and rose-petal soup, which was really delicious.

"After lunch, I'm calling an intel meeting. Paku and I have some info regarding Rosaline's upcoming mission, which she has to do tonight." Phillip said.

"Another mission?" Jasmine cried.

"Yeah, it's part of our job." Jude nodded. "We'll need more measures as this is usually done by Pakura. Rosaline never actually did this type of mission before."

"But I think we can safely let her go in alone. But she won't be alone in the planning." Ash said firmly, and Rosaline swelled in pride at the belief Ash had in her.

"You guys can sit in the meeting if you want." Rosaline said to the others. "Should we send Cynthia and Lance in again?"

"We should, in case if we need backup. And no, you two have training with Naoto this afternoon, although if you finish your training we might send you in to detain the suspects." Ash saw the looks on Jasmine and Grimsley's faces. "Once the Assignment Board deems you fit, we'll allow you to play a bigger part in future missions, I promise."

"You better keep it." They grumbled.

Just then, the phone rang, and Rosaline went to answer, since she was nearest. It was Pakura, who sounded irritated. It turned out Aquamarine had called her and told her that the dresses and tuxedos were ready for the dance party, and to come down for the final fitting at their earliest convenience. Pakura found out from this that they had all decided to attend the party.

"Ok, wise guys, must you decide to attend the party and ask my personal dress designer to make outfits for the dance party?" Pakura asked, as Rosaline put her to speaker mode.

"You see, we received the invitation, and we thought we should go, to let down our hair." Ash admitted. "Since they say we are welcome, so why not?"

'Sure, take advantage of the free food, won't you, Ash?' Pakura thought sarcastically, and disconnected after saying curtly, "Just don't do anything that would embarrass me."

Right after she hung up, the phone rang again. Rosaline answered again, and said to Ash, "It's for you."

"Hey, Ash." It was Gary. "We received your invite to the dance party thing."

Rosaline heard this, and shot him a look that said, "You invited them?"

"Oh yeah, thought you'd might like to hang out." Ash replied. "Since they say you can go if you got a date in the form of the Coordinators, Gym Leaders, Elite Four or Champion."

"Yeah about that….where are we going to get a date?" Paul asked.

"I think Zoey doesn't have a partner yet, and is still looking for one. There is also Ursula and probably Princess Salvia. After all, she's here in town to attend the party as a guest. If you like, I can get Paku to ask them." Ash answered, remembering what Pakura mentioned at the dinner table the other day.

"Great….I don't know them." Gary complained.

"Well, I do." Paul admitted. "I'll try to tell you about them."

"So, are you free today, Ash?" Tracey's voice joined them.

"Ugh, would you believe me if I tell you I am filming for an episode of an online webshow?" Ash asked.

"I think with you, we can believe you if you said you saw an UFO landing on your doorstep." Paul joked, and everyone laughed.

"At least there is the party to look forward to so we can hang out again." Gary said. "By the way, Jessie and James are celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" Ash asked.

"Celebrating the fact that Mari is dead. I don't know how, but congrats." Ash could almost see the three of them grinning.

"Oh yeah, they are a nuisance anyway." Tracey commented.

"If we have time, Cynthia and I can come over to your hotel room and hang out sometime." Ash offered. "Perhaps we'd bring the others over as well, to have a movie night or something."

"That would be awesome." Gary replied. "Now, about the-" He was cut off when someone apparently tried to wrestle the phone from him. A new voice interrupted, much to Ash's annoyance.

"Is Pakura there?" Iris said. "Let me talk to her."

"Hey!" Paul shouted. "Let go!"

"Seriously, I need to talk to her. We all want to battle her, and she claims to be busy, and yet she is on the phone with you." Iris exclaimed.

"She isn't on the phone, and you all shouldn't be interrupting her time for a battle anyway!" Tracey retorted.

"Yeah, besides, she doesn't have an obligation to battle you since it isn't the tournament!" Gary added.

"But how would we know who is the strongest Dragon user?" Clair's voice asked.

"Hang up now. We'll handle them." Paul said hastily, before Ash heard a muffled argument.

Ash shook his head, and replaced the receiver. He saw Lance looked like he was about to puke, and seeing this, he made Pakura's Eevee come to the dining room. Pakura's Eevee climbed up onto Lance's lap, and started licking him, which she'll only do to people she really trusts. Lance paused in his meal to cuddle the happy Eevee.

"Again?" Cynthia said quietly. Ash nodded.

* * *

The three children, Yoko, Hiromu, and Ryuji, were in the Yelado Department Store shopping for their necessities for their Pokémon journeys. Yoko was currently at the Hats section trying out some hats. The hats would be a good thing to have in her backpack, to block out the hot sun in the daytime, especially during summer.

"I know I should respect my elders or superiors and all, but I doubt they were giving respect to Princess Pakura." Ryuji commented. He had been tasked to take care of the other two, while the adults went to look for Princess Pakura in hopes of getting her to join the Dragon Clan and help them repair their reputation, now that they knew she was the Dragon Princess. He was even given money to go shopping and pay for their lunch.

"I agree." Hiromu replied. "But her being the Dragon Princess was really unexpected."

"Which hat should I take?" Yoko was torn between a white hat with a pink ribbon, and a black hat with a red ribbon. The boys were about to answer, when a voice said, "I think the white one would look better on you, seeing it would emphasize your cuteness."

The three of them jumped, and turned around to see somebody at the Pokéball section with her Sylveon and Espeon. The girl was wearing a pretty frock that is white at the top with a pink skirt at her waist was a huge ribbon the same colour as the skirt of her dress, along with a white hat with a pink brim and sunglasses. She was also carrying an Egg case containing a Pokémon Egg.

"Er….who are you?" Ryuji asked.

The girl lowered her sunglasses, and said, "It's me."

"It's Princess Pakura!" The three children said in unison, recognizing her amethyst eyes.

Pakura shushed them, and they nodded, knowing she was probably avoiding the attention of the media and her fans.

"She's so pretty." Yoko's eyes were shining.

"Thank you." Pakura managed a smile. "What's with the gloomy looks? Did the adults dampen your mood?"

"Something like that." Ryuji said off-handedly.

"Why won't you three come exploring the region and go shopping with me for a change of mood? I finally got a bit of time to myself, so I was thinking of visiting some shops that caught my interest, but it's lonely to go alone, you know. Please?" Pakura said in a gentle voice, clasping her hands together, though that was a little difficult as she was carrying an Egg case containing her Egg.

Ryuji shrugged, as they didn't have anything better to do. The other two jumped at the chance at being able to spend time with a celebrity, especially one as famous and popular as Pakura.

"Are you two done?" Ryuji called out.

The other two nodded, and they proceeded to pay for their items. However, Pakura stepped in, and said, "It's on me."

"But wait, we…" Ryuji started, but Pakura cut him off by saying, "I insist. Besides, with my special privilege, I actually don't have to pay." She handed the scanned items to the stunned children, and said, "Let's go."

The children looked at one another and shrugged, before following her out of the shop.

* * *

Ash was lying on the bed with Cynthia next to him in his room. He sighed, as they only had a half an hour of downtime before the meeting commences. He had a disturbing thought, thinking what would happen when the tournament ended?

Ash knew Cynthia would probably go back to Sinnoh, back to her Champion duties…and she might be too busy to even contact him, and they might not find the time to hang out. Not to mention, the distance thing, as the PAL Region is fairly far from Sinnoh.

"Hey, Cynthia?" Ash tentatively asked.

"Hmm?"

"Have you ever considered…you know, to move here and live in this region?" Ash enquired.

Cynthia thought about it, before replying, "I know this region provides so much attractions, and five-star accommodations, not to mention the region organizes events all the time so our lives here would be interesting, and it's a beautiful place to live in….but my family and friends are all back in Sinnoh. I don't know if I could leave all these to come here. I don't even know how you all do it."

Ash shot her a look, and she quickly apologized, forgetting that Ash did not have a family back in Kanto, and his Elites are probably the closest to family he has ever got now.

"But what about Rosaline?" Cynthia asked. "How did she leave her family to come here?"

"Please, she probably thinks the Elite Four spot would prove to her childhood bullies that she is the very best. Actually, it was Shiki Paku wanted as the Psychic specialist, not her. The most Paku ever did was tolerated her. Shiki may have said they became good friends, but I suspect that deep inside, Paku never actually liked her from the beginning the moment Rosaline started to follow her like a lost Growlithe in her travels. We're ok with Rosaline, but she tends to be a little…lost in her fantasies. Not that kind." He hastily added, seeing the look on Cynthia's face. "I'm saying she had a very fantastical view of the world and was extremely naïve for her age. Doesn't actually appreciate the gravity of a loss, and how people would do anything to keep what they have, because she has everything within her grasp all her life. Perhaps she is more mature now, but I think Paku would only keep a professional relationship with her. Rosaline has ruined her chances the moment she explored her room."

Cynthia nodded, and said, "A loss is a scary thing, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's too scary. I don't want to go through it again." Ash whispered. "It affects the psychology of our brain, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Pakura didn't look too stable, did she?" Cynthia added, remembering Pakura is deemed mentally unsound.

"Well, Lance would have to give up a lot if he wants to be with her…if he really loves her, that is." Ash muttered. "But still, do think about it. I doubt any of us, well, except Rosaline, with what we had been through, can take a long-distance relationship. Not even me."

"Ash…" Cynthia started, but Ash held up a hand.

"We isolated ourselves for a reason. We don't want to be hurt anymore, and I'm sure you'd understand why." Ash explained. "We may be the most powerful Elites and Champion, but we are still the most insecure ones. You know, I think the Dragon Duo created this Elite in the purpose of taking in people who have been a loss so they could give them a new life to live by. That is probably why Pakura didn't want Rosaline in."

Worry grew in Cynthia's heart as questions started to rise: What would happen once they go back to our lives? Would they even see each other again? Would they even have time to spend with each other? She knew how busy they would get, being a Champion herself. The thought of Ash being far away from her….the pain grew in her heart, as Ash sat up with a frown on his face.

"Anyway, I don't know why I thought so far. That isn't what I usually do." Ash laughed. "I must be spending too much time with a certain someone who can tell the future."

"Future holds the truth, huh?" Cynthia started to relax a little, though she knew better.

* * *

"Wow, it looks delicious!" The children exclaimed. She had taken them back to her secret cave after exploring the shops and made lunch for them, that being cheese and ham omelette with potato wedges, and they had loved it very much, even asking for second helpings. Now she was serving up chocolate custard dotted with cherry sauce for them, hence their comment.

"Let's eat!" They said together, and took a bite simultaneously, before exclaiming, "So tasty!"

"I'm glad you like it." Pakura said, as she prepared to serve their Pokémon her famous Poképuffs.

"You're a great cook, Miss Pakura." Yoko complimented, enthusiastically consuming her dessert.

"It's all practice." Pakura replied modestly.

"Miss Pakura? Can we ask a question?" Ryuji said hesitatingly.

"Sure, ask away." Pakura shrugged.

"Why are you so…hostile to our Blackthorn caretakers?" Hiromu said. "Earlier, remember when you saw them you told us to hide? We saw them trying to talk to you, but you glared at them and told them to go away. Same goes for when you were looking for another brush in the grooming store. You brushed them off like they were not worth it."

"Ok, I'll tell you then." Pakura answered, and the children's ears perked up in curiosity.

"Where do I start? Ok, this may be hard to believe, but I was originally from Blackthorn City." Pakura told them, and they gasped.

"You were?" Ryuji was surprised. Why hasn't he heard of her if she was? Surely someone from Blackthorn as famous as her would be the subject of discussion in the said city.

Pakura nodded. "Believe it or not, I was born there."

"But why aren't you in the Dragon Clan?" Yoko asked.

"The Elders never liked me ever since I was born. I was called the Cursed Child because I was born out of wedlock. So they took my name off, thinking it stains the name of the Dragon Clan. Eventually, when I was a toddler, they gave me away to Team Rocket." Pakura explained.

"What?" The children were astonished. How could they do that to an innocent child?

"They said the child ran away or whatever, but it isn't true. How can a toddler have the sense to run away? They have not developed their danger instincts yet. They may try to cover it up with stories, but it would always be exposed in the end." Pakura shook her head.

"That's so mean of them!" Yoko shouted.

"You kids are smart. Think. They do not want a child that has dirty blood, but why would they want the same child now?" Pakura posed a question, like a teacher to her students.

"Is it because you are the Dragon Princess?" Hiromu guessed.

Pakura nodded. "Bingo. There is another reason, though. Your own people actually killed one of the Clan's biggest stars."

"What?" The children were shocked by the revelation.

"Tell me, who is the Blackthorn Dragon Clan's brightest star, according to your people?" Pakura enquired.

"Err...Mr Lance? Miss Clair?" Yoko started playing the guessing game.

Pakura shook her head. "No, guess again."

The children listed some more random names before Ryuji suddenly said, "Wait, I just remembered that they once talked about a guy named Shiki Kurobane before. And they said he was an outstanding prodigy."

"Correct, Ryuji. He is the Dragon Prince. Both of us make up the Legendary Dragon Duo." Pakura smiled.

"No way! He was the Dragon Prince?" The children were awestruck.

"Yep. But my family killed him." Pakura said, letting bitterness seep into her tone.

"Your family killed him?" Ryuji was horrified.

"Yeah. They took away my only friend and fiancé." Pakura looked down at her engagement ring which the children noticed. "He was the only person I ever loved. Most of the Pokémon I own now was originally his, you know. Especially this Espeon." She scratched her Espeon under his chin, and he purred and nuzzled her hand for comfort. "He told the Pokémon to take care of me in his last breath."

"That's so mean of them! How could they take away your fiancé?" Hiromu shouted.

"And ruin your life twice?" Ryuji added. Yoko nodded in agreement.

"Now do you understand why I don't want anything to do with them, and why I don't want to return?" Pakura asked.

"Well we understand now. And we promise not to tell." Ryuji replied. Before him sat a person who had seen the evil and the horrors the world had to offer, and knows the secrets the adults are keeping from them.

"Thank you for your understanding." Pakura inclined her head slightly.

"Miss Pakura, would you have a battle with us?" Hiromu requested.

"Hiromu!" Ryuji began to admonish him, but Pakura said, "It's ok. Let's battle, then. I know a good…" She was cut off when she saw her Egg glowing. She put it down, and the children watched in awe as the Egg flashed white, and glowed white, transforming into the Pokémon inside the Egg. When the glow died, it revealed a small, bipedal, rabbit-like Pokémon that has light pink fleece which covers much of its lower body, feet and the tips of their ears, and a smooth light brown coloured pelt on the upper half of its body. It was a shiny Buneary, and Pakura noted it was female.

The baby Buneary opened her eyes, and saw Pakura, and immediately hopped into her arms. Pakura gave a slight smile and cuddled the little Buneary, who nuzzled her cheek.

"Come, let's have a battle." Pakura gestured to the children, still carrying the Buneary. "I know a good place where we can battle and not be seen. Would a one-on-one battle do?" The children nodded.

* * *

When Lance walked into his floor, he saw an angry Clair waiting for him. When she saw him, she immediately pounced on him.

"Where were you, Lance?" She demanded. "I've been trying to reach you for hours, but you weren't answering your Pokégear."

"I had to turn off my Pokégear. I was helping the PAL Elites in the filming of their webshow." Lance tried to be casual, as if it was no big deal, which it wasn't anyway. "Furthermore, I…"

But Clair wouldn't let Lance finish. She was in a state of shock, before saying, "Did you say the PAL Elites?"

"Er…yeah." Where was this going?

"Did you mean you got to spend your time in Pakura's company, while the rest of us has to run around and look for her?" Clair hissed. "We have been looking for her in all the places she could be in, and we got thrown out at some places for causing a disturbance! And you get to be all chummy with her, and-"

"Clair, I can mean anyone when I say PAL Elites. She is not the only PAL Elite member." Lance said calmly. "Pakura is isolated, even from her own Elites, do you think I even saw her much?" That was half true, as during the taping of his interview, Pakura did saunter out of the Tower, and she didn't show up for lunch.

"But it's unfair, you got to battle her." Clair muttered.

"Obviously, it's an official tournament battle. Besides, Altaria is part Dragon, I don't know why you have to pester her." Lance folded his arms.

"I want a rematch, that's why!" Clair answered. "Tell me where she is."

"How would I know?" Lance gave her a funny look. "Where's the others?"

"Going around asking people if they have seen her. I decided to wait for you to ask you instead." Clair grumbled. "Do you know our people are trying to induct her into our Clan?"

"Obviously." Lance said dryly. However, he had no intention of letting the Clan members near her, not if he had anything to say about it. "But I don't think it's a good idea, using her to restore our clan. I won't like it either, if I were going to be used for this purpose only. Why do you think Shiki defected from the Clan? It's because he knows how biased our clan can be."

"Shiki just can't cope with the Elder's rules." Clair said dismissively.

"No, Shiki knows he shouldn't follow the rules he knows would ultimately harm instead of help. And I am beginning to know what I should do as well, that is why I gave up the investigation. Because I know what had happened all those years ago, how our clan ruined one little girl. If they are willing to harm one innocent toddler for the sake of the purity of the Clan, there is no telling what else they are willing to do." Lance felt a need to defend his friend. After all, he was the one who took Pakura in when no one else wanted her.

"What are you talking about, Lance?" Clair was shaking her head. "The Cursed Child was-"

"Have you ever thought about what she did that earned her the nickname? Nothing! She did nothing wrong. She never asked to be born this way. It was her promiscuous mother who is at fault for cheating, and yet the little girl took the blame." Lance cut her off. He love his cousin, but she is a way too respectful of the Elders of the Dragon Clan.

"You seem to have real issues lately, Lance." Clair was disgusted. "I could really use your help in the investigation so we can bring the killer to justice, and you totally let me down by saying you won't continue with the investigation. Do you know for a Clan Leader, how disappointing this-"

Keep in mind that Lance had witnessed what the members of his Clan from the previous generation did to one little girl and basically ruined her childhood, and how they ruined her life the moment they killed her fiancé, which happened to be his best friend, and traumatized her to the point she never actually recovered. And he has to hear how disappointing he'd be to the Dragon Clan as the Leader for showing reluctance to convict someone who was a victim of circumstances?

So Lance cracked. He said, "Clair, shut up!"

He had never actually told Clair to shut up before. Not ever, since they were on so good terms with each other. He didn't know what happened, really, but it's probably something to do with how his Clan had ruined the Dragon Duo, and he was forced to lead them. Unfortunately, however, just as he told her to shut up, his Elites came out, ready for lunch.

"Whoa." Will said, backing up when he sensed the tension between the two cousins.

"What did you just say to me?" Clair said quietly but deadly.

"Look, seriously, I know you have good intentions for the Clan, but our actions are what caused our reputation to go down, and the Dragon Duo themselves to leave the Clan. And if we go on like this, we'll never amount to anything. And neither would you be able to defeat Pakura!" With that, he swung his heels, and stormed off towards his room, slamming the door behind him.

"What is his problem?" Clair was glaring at the door Lance disappeared behind. "And what does he mean by that's why they left? Pakura isn't even from Blackthorn City."

"Why do you ask us? You're his cousin, you know him the best." Karen shrugged.

"I tried to read his mind, but apparently he has been training his mind against mental intrusions, since I can't get anything from him. He's definitely hiding something. I think he knows who killed the Dragon Clan, but for some reason, doesn't wish to hand down the punishment. Maybe one of the PAL Elites told him."

"They know?" Clair was clenching her fists now. "But who could have told him?"

"Who is your first suspect?" Bruno shot back.

"Dragon Princess Pakura…." She was her prime suspect because Lance wished to be close to her, and he had been hanging around her an awful lot lately.

"There you go. Pakura most likely knows who killed the Dragon Clan, but gave the information to Lance in exchange for not incriminating the person." Koga answered.

Clair walked off, continuing her task in finding Pakura. She got a lot to answer for, in addition to a battle.

* * *

"Why do you look like you swallowed a sock?" Ash asked Lance, when they met up in the twelfth floor sitting room for the Intel meeting.

"Because, Ash, I had a huge argument with my cousin on some completely different ideologies. She really respects the Dragon Clan Elders a lot, and eats up whatever they say, thinking training with their teachings in mind would help make her the best Dragon Master, as opposed to Shiki's way of completely forging his own path." Lance rubbed his head.

"Well, she is a fairly strong Dragon user." Ash admitted. "So, I won't say her thinking is wrong."

"That was what I thought, until I saw the Dragon Duo." Lance replied. "Those two…were at a whole new level. I could feel it when I battled Pakura, although her skills weren't as sharp since she didn't train with them for a long while."

"Ok, let's get started." Pakura commented unenthusiastically. She was interrupted before she could start her battle with Yoko when Ash called her, forcing her to call off the battle before it even started. Pakura had battled Ryuji and Hiromu though, the latter whom lost after just one hit from Flygon. She had a harder time with Ryuji, especially when his Dragonair evolved into a Dragonite, but managed to win with her Mega Ampharos' Thunderbolt.

After being interrupted, she apologized to have to cut their meeting short, but she managed to give the children a Pokémon Egg each which was bred from her own Dragon Pokémon before sending them back and saying goodbye, promising them that she'd battle them again someday. Her newly-hatched Buneary was currently getting to know her parents, and her Eevee happily took her place in her arms, though Pakura no longer saw her as the baby.

Phillip placed down a file. "According to the, Club Heaven requires a pass to go in, and since no Pokémon are allowed inside, the door is quite sturdy so no one can use their Pokémon to break down the door. Your best bet would be to try and acquire the pass from one of the other regular patrons."

"Who are the regulars?" Rosaline asked.

"There is a woman named Elizabeth Bendery-" Phillip was cut off when Pakura said, "Oh, her."

"You know her?" Cynthia enquired.

"Yeah, I do. She's a pimp. She 'collects' girls, per se, uses them to earn money for herself. Plucks them crowded places and strip their old lives away from them, forcing them to work under her as prostitutes."

"WHAT?" Everyone screamed.

"Hey, no need to shout, I'm not deaf. Unfortunately, it happens in the city. Women are taken, most of the time in need for their bodies for sexual purposes. I think she does that to the girls' female Pokémon as well. Male ones are released, though. On the outside, she seems to be some rich old successful businesswoman, but no one knows how she earns her money…except a select few. She's an associate of Benzene's." Pakura muttered.

"Does it mean-?" Lance started.

Pakura nodded. "Yeah, had Benzene not died before I turned twenty, I'd be given to her. I know each of her prostitutes have a pass, so your best bet is to get one of them, and take their pass, disguise as them to infiltrate the Club Heaven. My cubicle has some files containing profiles of missing young girls. I suspect they were taken by her to be sold off to clients to sustain herself. She also tests the girls out herself before selling them off to clients."

Everyone was disgusted at her actions, as Pakura went on, "Oh and also, she's an open voyeur. Also installs cameras so she can watch the sex act later in full. Probably a lesbian, you know."

"How do you know all these?" Jude said in repulsive amazement.

"Everyone in the Blacklist Department knows it." Pakura replied. "But I hear she was hard to catch, as she's really secretive about her activities and dealings. With Club Heaven, it's easy."

"We need to shut it down as soon as possible. Do you know her schedule?" Ash asked.

"I know she would be going to lunch with her associates at the Plaza Hotel today. Usually, she'd keep two of her prostitutes with her to serve as assistants. We should get to Plaza Hotel to check." Phillip said.

"Surprisingly, we got someone who is really knowledgeable of her." Jude commented.

"What can I say?" Pakura shrugged. "I get unwanted attention."

"We better take this one step at a time. Hopefully we can keep this under wraps by tonight." Phillip suggested

Ash paced around the room, and said, "One of us should get to Palm Court, and find out where that woman is sitting. Try to find an opportunity to get the prostitutes in the Palm Court away from her without her suspecting, and get their passes. Rosaline, you up for it?"

Rosaline nodded. "Definitely."

"Alright, here's what we do. Rosaline would be in the front line trying to infiltrate the Club Heaven, and gather information that may shut down the club and incriminate the patrons and whoever is manning the club. We'll be the backup, either stationed at the Plaza Hotel or outside the club to apprehend them. We'll install an earpiece in Rosaline's ear so if anything happens, she can call us for help. Got it?" Ash said. "Paku would stay here, just wait for the success of the mission."

Everyone nodded, as Ash sent them to get to work.

Unknown to them, a certain Elite Leader has plans of her own as well. She is definitely not going to sit and watch.

* * *

"How is everything?" Phillip whispered in the mini earphone Rosaline was wearing. She was currently inside the Palm Court, disguised as a customer (with Pakura's clothing and accessories) ordering some iced tea, while looking for their target. So far, she couldn't see her target yet.

"I haven't found our target." Rosaline whispered.

"Check the second floor." Phillip replied. Rosaline nodded, just as her iced tea was served, and she wrapped the ice tea to take to the second floor. She scanned the room, until she hear a high-pitched voice laughing, and say, "Oh, my two lovely assistants provide the best service!"

Rosaline turned, and sure enough, there was her target chatting with what looked like rich people, but she wondered if they were as corrupt as her. The target was an immensely fat old lady with elaborate ginger hair and a brilliant pink gown that flowed all around her feet, giving her the look of a melting iced cake. A young girl was standing on beside her chair, looking down. Rosaline gritted her teeth as she remembered what Pakura told her about them. But where was the other one?

Unknown to her, the said girl was on the way back to her mistress when Pakura intercepted her, and knocked her out with her psychic powers. She proceeded to carry her back to her mistress' own hotel room, and swapped clothes with her. Much to her irritation, the outfit was very revealing, leaving nothing to the imagination, and the top was so low-cut she swore if she pulled down just a little, her breasts would be in full view.

Pakura used her illusion to disguise herself as the prostitute, and relieved her of her Club Heaven pass and the items she was supposed to bring back to her. Pakura frowned, as she recognized her as one of the girls who went missing in Nuit Forest. She scanned the girl's memories, and sure enough, she was forcibly taken. She also learnt that her name was Elise.

'That woman rips girls away from their families and lives.' Pakura thought angrily, as she made a phone call to Akira to take the girl to the hospital. Perhaps she needed rehabilitation from PAL Rehab as well, seeing how the forced prostitution would lead to trauma, considering how she was forced to have men every day.

Pakura explored the hotel room, and accidentally stumbled upon Elizabeth's record book. She opened the record book, and much to her horror, saw a profile of herself with details that was known to the public, including all her achievements to date. Under her name it was scribbled "The most special and beautiful jewel I ever laid eyes on. Must collect her."

Of course she would try to collect her for her 'business deals', and would be the diamond of her 'collection', being the regional's Beauty Queen and having high positions. Sickened, she threw the Record Book away from her, just as she sensed Akira approaching.

"What's the problem?" Akira asked, as his team of medics entered as well.

"Forced prostitution. Also shows sign of multiple breast enhancement surgeries, probably made her have more clients to pay for that. Who knows what other things the pimp did to her while she was held captive and forced to service her clients." Pakura answered. 'Don't tell me this was to lure me out.' She thought, knowing the woman was obsessed with her.

Akira nodded. He barked orders to the medical team, and said, "Don't let the woman get away."

Pakura nodded, as she took the items Elise was supposed to supply to her mistress.

* * *

Rosaline watched as the other prostitute returned with her mistress' supplies, and the mistress said, "Why thank you, Elise." The girl nodded meekly, and stood at the other side of her mistress' chair. Elise looked around, and locked eyes with Rosaline, before turning away.

Something was strange here. She didn't have the time to think, however, as the other prostitute asked to go to the bathroom, and the mistress nodded her assent. Rosaline proceeded to follow the other girl, and when no one was around, knocked her out in the toilet. She then proceeded to change clothes with her, apologizing internally, and taking her Club Heaven pass.

"I got the pass." She whispered to Phillip.

"Good job." Phillip approved, just as in the background, Ash gave a startled shout.

"Paku's missing!" Ash announced.

"What?" Rosaline was shocked.

"Something tells me she is going to participate in the mission as well. You just continue with your task." Ash instructed. "What is that girl thinking?"

"Who knows? We'll never understand how our Leader works." Rosaline replied.

"No matter." Ash sighed. "Just find out her location during the mission. I have a feeling she is near you."

"Got it." Rosaline nodded, and decided to leave the girl in the bathroom, calling the hospital to come take the other girl to the hospital.

She made sure to get a wig, and placed the blonde hair to cover her real hair colour, before getting out of the bathroom to the 'meeting'.

"Pretty girls you have there." A man leered towards Rosaline and the other girl.

"Oh yes, they are one of the more precious of my collection." Elizabeth tittered. "It's too bad I don't have the current Princess in my collection. Benzene was about to give me to her, but he went missing and she took the chance to dissolve the contract."

"Must be a big loss." Another man commented.

"Oh yes, I was so disappointed when the guards won't let me in to see her, for a negotiation. But I'm not going to give up just yet." The pimp was looking into a small jewelled mirror and dabbing rouge onto her already scarlet cheeks with a large powder puff. Rosaline half-expected her to kiss the mirror, she was obviously in love with herself. "I'll love to try Pakura out, she has such a sexy body with those big boobs!"

'She's not an object.' Rosaline thought.

"But some of us do like petite ones, like Rosaline for instance." A third man suggested. "Why not try to collect her?"

"Please." Elizabeth scoffed. "I got plenty of girls like that, young and fresh as well. But I lack those with the sexy figure."

"It's be great to do that Princess. After all, she holds a high influence in this region, and so many achievements." A fourth man sighed, before nudging Elizabeth, and whisper, "How much for the girls?"

Rosaline jolted, though she knew she wasn't supposed to hear that. She could hear it thanks to her enhanced hearing, but she didn't know if the other girl can hear as well.

"It's a thousand for Elise, and eight-hundred for Letitia. Do you want them drugged?" Elizabeth whispered back. The man nodded, and Elizabeth proceeded to order two glasses of milk for the two girls. Rosaline stood there, heart pounding, as she waited for the milk to arrive. Elizabeth would most likely drug it, before giving them to drink.

As the milks arrived, the business associates started to leave, and Elizabeth gave one glass each to the girls after 'examining' it. Rosaline gulped, but started to drink the glass to avoid suspicion, and immediately felt woozy, but pretended to collapse. The other girl immediately collapsed, knocked out. Rosaline used her aura, and sensed Elizabeth calling two men to carry them to a hotel room number.

Rosaline felt herself carried up the elevators, down a long passage, and unceremoniously thrown on the bed. The man approached the bed, and Rosaline inwardly cussed as she realized the drug was rather potent in small doses. Next thing she knew, however, was that the sheets on the bed shifted, and a gunshot was heard, and a knife was sliced at the throat.

"Put yourself together." A girls' voice said. "What are you doing, Rosaline?"

"How did you know?" Rosaline asked, as the girl pinned her down on the bed, and placed her hands on her body. Next thing she knew, the drug was withdrawing from her bloodstream, allowing the dizziness to fade away and disappear. Her vision cleared, and saw Elise standing there with a gun and knife beside her. Elise shook her head, and dropped her illusion.

"Pakura?" Rosaline was shocked.

"Who else? You should have gotten a sponge and hid it in your collar. You aren't immune to drugs like me." Pakura snapped. "Come on, let's check the room."

In one bedroom they had found loads of the man's outfits, jackets, pairs of shoes, coats, and even makeup. Rosaline speculated that the man must have used it to make himself look attractive though the dead man actually looked more repulsive. There was a similar selection for women in another closet.

"Another cheater." Pakura commented, as she started to stuff a sack with the clothes that she liked. "Come on, take what you like and let's go."

"Isn't that stealing?" Rosaline asked.

"Their price for trying to make us provide sexual service. Besides, he's dead." Pakura shrugged. Rosaline nodded and joined her in taking the things she liked, including the cash and credit cards and even jewellery. Pakura used teleportation to send them back to their rooms. Rosaline found a Club Heaven pass, and said in the earphone, "Phillip, we found a third pass. Send one of the boys down to infiltrate."

* * *

"A third pass has been found." Phillip reported to the rest. Ash and the others frowned, wondering who should go along with them, as they do not really have a lot of clothes to disguise themselves.

"Should Cynthia go?" Lance spoke up.

"No, her blonde hair is too long to disguise and too obvious." Ash shook his head. "And I can't cast illusions like Paku, and she's not here." The said person sighed in disappointment but did not argue.

"Why don't you go, Ash?" Jude suggested.

"What, why?" Ash was shocked.

"Well, don't you have the ability to disguise yourself as anyone you want and can adjust your height, body shape and voice to mimic the person?" Jude asked.

"Yeah…" Ash said. "But I never disguised myself as a female before."

"You can try." Jude snickered. "And what better time than right now?"

"Fine." Ash grumbled, and went to his room to try. A few minutes later, a girl of such breath-taking beauty emerged from the room. 'She' was tall and willowy with long blonde hair that fell almost to her waist, deep blue eyes and fair skin.

"Seriously, if I didn't know it was you, Ash, I'd ask you out!" Jude joked, and Ash glared at him.

"Do I look like a girl?" Ash even mimicked his voice to sound like one.

"If I were to grade you, you'd get excellent marks." Cynthia nodded in approval. "Now we better dress you up."

"Paku would kill us if she ever finds out, but let's check her closets." Ash suggested, and headed to her room via the connecting door with Cynthia. Ash decided on a navy blue skirt and an off-the-shoulder blacktop which was made of a flexible material. He placed his weapons in one of the handbags Pakura had owned. He replaced his usual snickers with high heeled boots, which was fairly difficult to walk in. Cynthia helped Ash put on a bit of makeup, and nodded in approval at the final result, as he looked like someone ready for a fun time in a nightclub.

When he came out, Phillip gave him another earpiece so he could talk to them, and he set off to meet Rosaline outside the club.

"We should move off too." Cynthia suggested. "Two of us would station ourselves outside the nightclub, and two of us wait at the Plaza Hotel."

"I think one of you would partner up with one of us." Phillip suggested. "Since that way, you have someone who can wield aura if needed."

"Why don't I go with Lance, and you go with Cynthia?" Jude said, and Phillip nodded.

"But where would you two wait without deflecting suspicion?" Cynthia asked.

"Paku's penthouse." Jude answered. "Rosaline did mention something about trying to trap our main target there. She didn't say how though. Paku had two card keys for her penthouse. One is with her, and another is with me."

"Oh yeah, I've been there." Lance commented, remembering she took him there to tell him about Ash.

"We better go as well." Cynthia said. Everyone nodded, and they set off.

* * *

"Why am I not surprised?" Ash groaned, when he saw a provocatively dressed girl with a disguised Rosaline, who turned out to be Pakura under illusion.

"Told you Rosaline can't do it alone. Stupid girl, drinking from the drugged milk to deflect suspicion. You should have created a distraction, like set the tablecloth on fire or something." Pakura scoffed. "Who knows what he'd do to her if I wasn't there."

"Well, it's her first time in this type of mission. But lead the way." Ash nodded to Rosaline. She nodded, and they made their way to the Club Heaven building, which was a one-storey nightclub. Despite being called so, it appears to operate in the afternoon as well.

The three shows their passes to the bouncer, who checked the pass, before looking at them.

"Well, I confess I am surprised to see you someone like you." The bouncer said to Ash.

"Really? Why?" Ash asked.

"Well, I never seen you before, and I remember all the beauties that would come here to... ah... entertain us."

"Her name's Bellatrix." Pakura said. "She's one of the new recruits our mistress has hired recently. Perhaps your memory has failed you this time." She must be using her Persuasion ability, as the bouncer replied, "Oh, right, sorry. But I won't forget you this time." He winked at Ash, who looked disgusted, but concealed it just in time. The bouncer opened the door and they went in, marvelling at how dark it was despite being afternoon. The music was loud, and everyone was dancing to the beat, and some were rather risqué.

"Come on, she's this way." Rosaline used her aura to sense her target. Pakura and Ash followed without question, since Rosaline is actually the mission leader here.

Rosaline looked around, and realized it was a drug den, as there were drug dealers selling drugs, even to those who looked like they were minors. She used her pen that had a camera hidden in it to record the proceedings as they manoeuvred through the crowd. Sure enough, she saw their target drinking glass after glass of vodka, and other girls with her had benumbed expressions just like the girls that the two had impersonated.

Just then, the host announced a special bidding event, and by the applause that followed, it was pretty often.

"And now, our main event: The female auction!" A man announced, as someone wheeled in a bed with a clearly drugged girl. The three narrowed their eyes at that. Meanwhile, outside, Phillip is using his laptop to connect to Rosaline's camera hidden in her pen. He was disgusted at the activities happening in their region, and swore to end this. Cynthia was also repulsed at it.

"170cm tall, 17 year old female. Three hour rent from Elizabeth Bendery, the bid would start at ten thousand Pokédollars!" The host said, and the men started shouting numbers that only increased.

"We should do something." Ash whispered among the loud voices.

"Alright, we got a bid of twenty million Pokédollars." The host finally said. "Anyone else? Going once, going twice….Sold for twenty million Pokédollars!"

At that point, Pakura took this opportunity to teleport the girl away to the hospital, and chaos ensured, as the winning bidder demanded for his prize, and Rosaline said in her headset, "Phillip, now."

Phillip then burst in the nightclub, and everyone, recognizing Phillip, started to make a run for it, but was stopped by the fire Rosaline created.

"You two go on and trap that pimp. We'll take care of things here." Cynthia said. Pakura and Ash nodded, as they went for the pimp, and took her away, presumably to safety, when in reality, they were planning to trap her.

"This way, mistress." Pakura gestured for Elizabeth to follow her. Elizabeth stumbled clumsily after Pakura, attempting to run in her high heels. Pakura led her to the Plaza Hotel and to the elevators, with Ash following behind without the fat woman knowing.

"Your hotel room is not safe, mistress. I know a place where you can hide." Pakura said, as she pressed the elevator button.

"How do you have a hiding place?" Her mistress was confused but grateful.

"You never really asked." Pakura gave a strange smile, as she led the woman into her own hotel room, and used her card key to unlock the door, where she knew Jude and Lance were waiting.

"After you, mistress." Pakura offered, and Elizabeth nodded, stepping in. However, the moment she did, Jude shouted, "Umbreon, Psychic!" Umbreon immobilized Elizabeth, and Lance grinned as he handcuffed her to the wall, and she was now spread eagle on the wall, vulnerable to her captors.

"Nice work." Ash grinned as he stepped in.

"We try." Jude bowed.

"What is going on here?" Elizabeth demanded. "Elise, how dare you betray me?"

"Betray you?" Pakura was amused, as she tilted her head. "I'm doing my job, Bendery."

"How dare you speak so disrespectfully to-" Elizabeth trailed off when Pakura dropped her illusion, causing her to reveal her real appearance.

"Princess Pakura, it's you!" Elizabeth gushed, recognizing her. "Oh, it's like a dream, having you dressed like this so close to me! Are you going to…?"

"Paku…" Jude started.

"What?" Pakura turned to him.

"Let me do the honour of the slow death." Jude requested, taking out a knife.

Pakura raised a brow, but she said, "Very well." and stepped back, causing her breasts to bounce very slightly, and lead Elizabeth to drool, much to her chagrin. Lance took off his cape, and covered her with it so that it hid her body from Elizabeth's view.

"You sure you are up for this, Jude?" Ash whispered, knowing Jude prefers dealing a quick death. Jude sent him a look that made Ash know he was sure he could do it, and he fell back as well.

* * *

"No! How could you!" The owner of the building screamed, as Rosaline set the entire building on fire, while Phillip created a steel wall to prevent the fire from spreading and the smoke from affecting the environment.

"We can do it, because your entertainment club is a drug den and prostitution ring, which is illegal." Phillip pointed out, as Rosaline arrested everyone, including the patrons and regular clients. Jasmine and Grimsley, who had finished their training with Naoto, was helping her out. "Every single one of you would be put on trial for the crimes you did, and we'll be looking to shut down your website where you uploaded all those porn videos of the prostitutes you sold."

"We would have let you join in, man!" The host was exasperated.

"I wouldn't want to do that with someone for the pleasure of it." Phillip rolled his eyes. "Besides, I would never cheat on my girlfriend."

"A monster like you who treats us women like sex objects have no right in this place of the world." Cynthia added.

"Do you want to execute him on the spot?" Phillip asked, pointing to the two men in the traps he had made.

"I'd be arrested." Cynthia said.

"Not if we cover for you." Phillip pointed out. "After all we have the license to kill. Show them how you feel." He handed her a knife and a gun. Cynthia hesitated, as she knew she wasn't Pakura, but saw the men, and remembered how many girls' dignity they had ruined, they had made to provide sexual services against their will.

There was no situation in which this crime could be justified, not a single, solitary one. It was an act with no motive other than to have sick pleasures, in the expense of others' pain, and it would scar a person's mind for the rest of their life. Cynthia wanted to make sure they never do it to them again. If she kept them alive, who knows when they'd be released, and what if they did it again when they were released?

No wonder PAL allowed Hunters to kill. Killing would make sure they would never do it again. With that thought, Cynthia approached with the weapons in hand. She has to make sure they never do it again, using women as objects.

"Whoa." Rosaline was watching in awe as Cynthia threw a knife in a man's head.

"The knife throwing training was worth it." Cynthia remarked, as she noted she hit her target spot on.

"I don't want to anger Cynthia." Jasmine shuddered. "She's even scarier than last time."

Cynthia turned to Jasmine and Grimsley. "I realized, in here, we need to kill to permanently end the crimes. PAL Region faces these types of crimes all the time because of their prestige and isolation from the other regions. They don't have time to give them a chance, and we shouldn't either."

"Spoken like a true PAL soldier." Rosaline said in approval, as Cynthia readied her gun to shoot the other man to death.

"Cynthia got the reason why we kill." Phillip told Grimsley and Jasmine. "If you don't kill, they'll kill you. That's how our region works, and as their main protectors…."

He didn't need to say more, as he saw the determination in their eyes, that they would continue their training in order to be able to back them up when the time comes.

Meanwhile, Ash whistled as the blood flowed down the wall, dripping on the carpet. Pakura frowned as the filthy blood dripped onto her own carpet. She would need to call for cleaning service, as she also noticed the vomit Elizabeth had when Jude made her eat cockroaches (much to Pakura's chagrin, as she is quite afraid of them) and drink urine during the torture.

Lance's eyes were wide with shock as he watched Jude gruesomely extract the knife from Elizabeth's abdomen. She was mutilated beyond recognition, and Jude didn't look like he had a care in the world, which made him realize Pakura isn't the only one who would kill. And here he thought Jude was one of the more compassionate ones.

Jude smiled as he saw the woman was barely alive, and he released her from the chains, allowing her to drop to the floor.

"You can try to escape, if you want." Jude offered.

"I doubt she can." Ash watched in disdain as Elizabeth tried to crawl, since Jude injured her legs to the point she could not walk, but crawling turned out to be a chore as well. She looked at Pakura, who looked amused as she could tell she wanted to call for help.

"You better clean this penthouse up." Pakura huffed, looking at the blood and vomit and other bodily fluids. "I hate filth like this in something I own."

"Later." Jude waved her off, as Lance pointed a gun at Elizabeth, since she was about to make a feeble grab for Pakura's leg. However, Ash could see he was hesitating in pulling the trigger.

"Why are you hesitating, Lance?" Ash asked, making him look up.

"Well…I…" Lance replied. He actually never really made a kill before.

"How are you going to protect Paku like you swore you would to Shiki? You saw how he protected her- he had to kill the attackers at the age of seventeen." Jude sneered. "You saw what your people did to her. Are you going to let them get away with it?"

"I don't need people to protect me. Much less someone like him." Pakura shot Jude a funny look.

Lance narrowed his eyes in anger at that thought, remembering how they had ruined her and killed Shiki. He turned back to the pathetic woman, and pulled the trigger.

"That's right, Lance. Come to the dark side, we got cookies." Jude smiled.

'Cookies is right.' Lance thought, looking at Pakura. 'If they are in the dark side, no way the good side can win.'

"Let's get rid of the body before it starts stinking." Pakura suggested. "And clean up the place, for Arceus' sake."

Another mission complete.

* * *

Since Ash was still wearing girls' clothes, just for fun, he decided to disguise himself as Pakura, while Rosaline went off to report the details of the mission, as she was technically assigned the mission. He was currently with Cynthia at the Palm Court (his Pikachu and Lucario being with Phillip), having their evening tea peacefully when a voice shouted "There you are!"

Ash turned, and scowled when he realized it was Iris, but fortunately, she wasn't with the other Dragon users, just with her boyfriend Cilan. He had almost forgot about the fact that Pakura is chased down thanks to her status as the strongest female Dragon Master in the entire Pokémon World.

"Oh, it's you. What do you want?" Ash sighed.

"You know what I want. I want a Dragon-on-Dragon battle!" Iris shouted.

"How am I supposed to battle you with Dragon Pokémon, when I know that only half your team are Dragon-types?" Ash asked calmly, sipping his tea.

"Could you have a battle with my girlfriend? She is really eager to do so ever since she heard of you since she was a child." Cilan asked in a gentlemanly voice. "You don't have a grudge against her, do you?"

"On the contrary, she has a grudge." Cynthia interrupted.

"And what is that?" Iris raised her eyebrow.

"The fact that you betrayed Ash. Pakura does like the boy." Cynthia smirked. "You give us a good reason why you betrayed him."

"Didn't they betray him because they thought he was weak?" Ash looked at her incredulously. "That was what Ash told me when I saw him the last time."

"No, we had a good reason!" Iris insisted. "Not only was he weak, he's a danger magnet. Team Rocket is always following him around, and what is more, he drags us into dangerous situations, especially with the Legendaries. When we separated from him, I never ran into any Team Rocket members and what is more, my life wasn't in danger anymore! Trip brought up this point, and we thought it's better for him to stay home."

"Oh right, save your own skin, why don't you?" Cynthia sneered. "Has it occurred to you Ash never wanted this? Did you think he chose this path?"

"Enough, Cynthia. They already made it clear they were done with him." Ash stopped her, as he sipped his tea, realizing there was more to the betrayal from what Iris said. Apparently, he was a danger magnet, but it seems to be a perfect attribute to have when he's the Prince of PAL.

"That is why I do not wish to battle you." Ash glared at Iris. "Because you are an arrogant bint who belittled her own friend to so-called save your own skin, and what is more, you sound like I owe you a battle! Let's go, Cynthia, I don't want to be near these people." Cynthia also glared at Iris and Cilan as they teleported away, back to the Tower, specifically, the twelfth floor.

"Maybe I shouldn't have disguised myself as Paku." Ash muttered, as he changed back to his real appearance, and went for his room to change.

"You were pretty good at acting her." Cynthia complimented, watching appreciatively as Ash took off the skirt and top, and went to the closet to get an outfit that was his own.

"Much better." Cynthia commented when Ash wore a dark green shirt and loose pants. She made a grab for his shirt, and Ash gulped.

"Wait, don't tell me you…" Ash started, but Cynthia said, "Yes, I'm so glad Pakura told you so much."

The kiss was just the beginning.

* * *

"I'm going to pick you up in half an hour's time. My parents wish to meet you over dinner together at the Plaza. Apparently little bro told them about you." Phillip sighed in the phone.

"Are you serious?" Jasmine sounded rather nervous from Phillip's point of view.

"Yeah. Just wear something casual." Phillip replied, and hung up.

Jasmine looked at the receiver, and went to her room to prepare. It would not sit well with upper-class families such as Phillip's if they were late, or so the PAL Elites had said.

Later, when Phillip met her, she was in a pretty pink frock with white puffy sleeves and a white waistband tied into white ribbon. She had her hair up in a hairband this time, and Phillip had to admit, she looked really great.

"Don't worry about my parents, I'm here." Phillip reassured her, and Jasmine nodded, taking his arm, as they headed for the Plaza Hotel. As they arrived, there were already other guests having their own dinner. Phillip looked around, and found his family at one of the round tables. Acer saw him, and waved him over.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs, Robinson." Jasmine greeted, somewhat unnerved.

Penelope smiled. "Hello, sweetheart. It's lovely you were able to come. It's nice to meet you." She stood up, and shook hands with Jasmine, and her husband followed suit.

"And please, call us Penelope and Gregory. It's great at least our elder son has someone in his life." Gregory was grinning.

"Are you saying the social butterfly of our family is still single?" Phillip turned to his little brother, whose face is as red as cherries.

"I don't have anyone that I would like to spend my alone time with." Acer replied.

"And our Elite Leader is unattainable, right?" Phillip nodded, looking at the menu with Jasmine.

"How did you know?" Acer widened his eyes.

"Everyone falls in love with her beauty." Phillip answered. "But it's best not to pursue her, her beauty is extremely dangerous. And winning her over it's like trying to shovel snow during a blizzard. Even I have a hard time understanding her, and she's supposed to be my best friend."

Acer winced at this, while the parents seemed amused.

"Don't worry, my dear Ace. I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you." Penelope assured her younger son, as the waiter came to take their orders.

"So, how did you meet our Phillip here?" Gregory asked.

"First met him in this region, when I came to compete." Jasmine answered. "I saw him inventing some stuff, and found it interesting. But he ran away that first time."

"Obviously." Phillip said dryly, as Acer smacked him for running away from a girl. "What can I say? I'm not one for social interaction."

"But yet you got a girlfriend." Acer said, a hint of envy in his voice, just as the orders came, and the family started on their meals.

"Well, I worked to get what I have now, including a girlfriend, you know." Phillip shrugged. "I'm glad I read so many books when I was young, taught me a lot, and I gained a few skills."

"How did you disappear off the Hoenn radar?" Gregory wanted to know.

"Simple. I was able to forge a ship ticket, and hacked the computer system to add my name to the passenger list. That ship was heading for the Sinnoh region." Phillip explained. "That was where I got my starter Pokémon, Piplup."

"Wow…" Acer was amazed that his brother was able to do that at such a young age. Perhaps if his parents weren't so obsessed with social parties and how others think of them based on their sons, they would have noticed that Phillip was a genius.

"I'm so glad that the family is back together again after so many years." Penelope gushed. "Please do take care of my son, don't let him off your sight, you know."

"Of course not, Penelope." Jasmine nodded, smiling sweetly, and the topic steered to the fashion show some designer was going to hold and the fact that the said designer was also going to participate in the fashion contest where Jude was going to be one of the judges.

* * *

Jude was walking along the forest, and looked to be in a pretty bad mood, since earlier, the Dragon users had again asked where she was, and he snapped and said he didn't know. Even if he knew, he wouldn't tell them anyway. Why are they acting like she must battle them or something?

"**Well, they won't give up until they have the battle." **Liepard commented.

"Can't they see that she hasn't battled with them for like five years? She only battled with them for the first time during her match against Lance. And the sad part was why she gave up battling with them." Jude gritted his teeth.

"**Losing her only friend and fiancé was a hard blow." **Liepard agreed. **"The Dragon Duo: One dead, another thoroughly traumatized and broken into pieces." **

"It isn't easy for us either, since we chose to take care of her ourselves." Jude remarked.

"**Remember, she has been suffering for years, and we all only found out about it for a few days. There's a chance her old personality is somewhere inside, since we all know her personality now depends on her mood." **Liepard reminded him. **"Just like how we found each other."**

"Oh yeah." Jude remembered how he and Liepard met. "The Dragon Duo gave me a new perspective in life and even helped me gain my career back, the least I could do…is to take care of the girl, try and save her. Make sure she's eating and sleeping well."

"**Is that the only reason why you're taking care of her? Because you felt the need to repay them?" **Liepard asked.

"What? Of course not! That's just part of it." Jude protested. "I mean, I promised Shiki himself that I'd protect her when he's gone. I failed Shiki once. I can't fail him again. If we fail again, he'll…" He trailed off as he remembered Shiki had asked them to hand Pakura over to them as his initial condition.

All those days of taking it for granted that Pakura thought they were wonderful and had loved them were over. Her true intention was revealed, and Jude knew she never cared for the Elite Four, since she never actually wanted to be a member herself.

"**It isn't about the region, you know. It's about Pakura herself." **Liepard flicked her tail.** "She probably thinks you're keeping her away from Shiki on purpose because you need her to run this region. After all, she said the running of the region is first priority, and the only thing she cared about is the Dragon Duo's reputation." **

"You're right, but…." Jude sighed. "I don't want to lose my little sister. She was a good friend at a time I needed friends. But if you look at it this way, the Dragon Duo would be unforgettable at the fact that she is the Elite Leader, and everyone now knows she is the female half of the Duo."

"**The funny thing is, we have been discussing her situation, and we get a lot of theories, but assuming they are all correct, we get one very complicated person. Even Ash, he doesn't know what to do. This is the first time I see him lose his composure."**

"I guess we'll have to take it one step at a time." Jude mumbled.

* * *

Pakura was on the way to the Dragon Cave, which was still her main base of operations (it can also serve as a living space), when she stumbled across an orange notebook. Figuring someone must have dropped it, she decided to take it and track down the owner of the notebook so she can return it to him or her.

When she opened the notebook to look for the name, she thought Arceus must be laughing at her at the moment as it was a whole notebook full of pictures of Lance, the one person that is annoying her to no end, with the objective of asking her on another date, despite her numerous rejections, even trying to persuade her by telling her some story about his aunt and uncle.

According to Lance, when his uncle first pursued his aunt, she initially turned him down. After a string of unsuccessful relationships, his aunt then realised his uncle truly did love her. And when she went back to him, he was still waiting for her. They have been happy together since, he told her.

As if some lame romance story would get her to be with him. What did he think they are, his aunt and uncle? Lance had protested, saying what he said was true, which she retaliated by saying that his aunt is no princess, and probably doesn't have guys falling longingly at her feet. She knew she struck a nerve, but Lance calmly told her that his aunt was known as "The blooming scarlet hibiscus" because of her beauty, and showed her a picture of his aunt. However, Eevee, thinking it was a toy, snatched the picture away.

When Eevee saw the picture, she thought his aunt was beautiful, but in a different way than her trainer. She had the same flaming red hair that Lance had, and had crystal blue eyes. Something about her says that she was a dutiful wife, as opposed to the elegant but badass princess her owner was.

When Pakura took back the picture, she had the impression she might be bored, leading a simple life with her Leafeon as the family pet and not having a job and all. Lance said that his aunt used to be a model, but she quit when she got married. Now she doesn't get to meet all the interesting people she used to meet when she was modelling.

But back to the matter at hand. Whoever owns this notebook must have a major crush on him or something, only that Lance never paid attention to her. She'd definitely swap places with this fan any day, his attention on her is definitely unwanted, since Lance is no Shiki.

Pakura didn't know why Lance would bother with her, but she certainly doesn't enjoy his company. Sure, when one looks at her, they would think of her as a harmless and sweet girl (current outfit consisted of a pink shirt with white collar and at the tips of the sleeves, a dark pink skirt and a light pink belt with a purple heart buckle), but Lance should know better than most, since he is aware of her occupation.

'What a pity, Champion Lance.' Pakura thought, as she sensed her target approaching. 'It looks like I have to resort to other measures to get rid of you. Don't worry, I won't kill…at least, not yet. You should see that you and I can never be together.'

"Hey, there you are!" Lance gave her a smile, as she was now on his line of sight.

They seriously severely underestimated her apathy. She may look like everyone else, standing out because of her beauty, but she only has one thing on her mind- homicide. Lance is definitely the undefeated Champion…of the Stupid Tournament, that is. Did he graduate head of the class at Moronic State University or something?

If Lance can't be persuaded to give up with words, she'll use force to make him do so.

* * *

On the way back, unfortunately, who did Jude have to run into but the group of traitors. Jude wasn't particularly scared, since he knew he could take all of them at once, since he had plenty of Pokémon on hand right now. Besides, they don't have much in the way of battling while he is an Elite Four member. When they saw him, they approached him, and Liepard had a Shadow Ball ready in case anything happens.

"What do you want?" Jude folded his arms.

"Could you give us Pakura's Pokégear number?" Max asked. "We would like to talk to her."

"What do you want to talk to her about?" Jude raised his eyebrow, though he had a suspicion.

"You see, I tried to ask her for a battle when she was out with Cynthia, but she coldly rebuffed me!" Iris spoke up. "I'd like for you to give me her number so I can call and ask again."

'Why do I have the feeling that Paku would have her Pokégear ringing for twenty-four hours a day if I give them the number?' Jude thought, but he said, "No way."

"But it's not fair, Lance got his battle with her! Iris wants her too!" Trip added.

"No one ever said life was fair." Jude rolled his eyes. "It was fair to you when you betrayed Ash four years ago, right? You just want everything to go your way."

The traitors gaped at him, before Brock stuttered, "H-How did you know that?"

"We have like three psychics in the team." Jude answered. "They're bound to pick up something sooner or later, and the reason of him being weak is the lamest thing I ever heard. But if you think you're strong, tell me, why did you lose in the tournament so early, and why didn't you even get past the Appeals Round of the Interregional Contest?" He pointed to them.

"Just give us the number!" May screamed, angry at the reminder that she lost in the Appeals Round.

"What's the matter? Did I strike a nerve?" Jude asked, amused. "Being a psychic, of course Paku knows about the betrayal by the way."

"What kind of amateur are you?" Max sneered. "She's the Dragon Princess, not the Psychic Princess!"

"Who's the amateur here?" Jude shot back. "The Dragon Duo members are Dragon/Psychic specialists, not pure Dragon. Just makes me wonder why you even want to battle them. Besides, she hasn't been battling with them for five years."

"Once a Dragon Master, always a Dragon Master." Iris insisted.

"So once a weakling, always a weakling?" Jude retorted. "Let me tell you this: I know Ash is a great trainer, and I'm sure Paku would gladly battle Ash if he challenges her, and she is waiting for him to challenge her. This is saying something, since she never really battles outside of the Pokémon League or the tournament."

Trip opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, Jude's CommuniDex rang, and Jude said, "Oh no! It's time already?"

"Yeah?" Jude opened his CommuniDex.

"Where are you?" Phillip demanded. "It's your turn to watch her."

"Sorry, I'll be right there." Jude said grimly. He closed the CommuniDex, and said, "Well, I have no time to waste here. Liepard, fire the Shadow Ball!"

The traitors flinched, but the Shadow Ball hit the ground, creating smoke around them. When the smoke cleared, Jude and his Liepard were gone.

* * *

Ash came out of his room, hair and clothes being messed. Cynthia had fallen asleep, and he was about to get a cup of hot cocoa for himself before he went to sleep, and read a book or something. Reading was surprisingly interesting, and he frowned when he saw Lance on the couch, a first-aid kit next to him.

"Lance, what are you doing here?" Ash asked.

"Ran out of supplies from the first-aid kit on my floor. So I came here. Hope you don't mind." Lance replied.

"Not at all, but what happened?" Ash made Lance remove his hand from his neck and revealed that fact that the entire left side of his neck was one gigantic splotchy purple bruise. Lance struggled, but Ash was too strong, and he pulled up his sleeves, revealing some more bruises and dried blood.

"You have been beaten up." Ash stated. He did not need an answer, he could tell. "Who did this?"

However, Lance kept his mouth firmly shut.

"Did the Blackthorn people do this to you?" Ash asked. Lance did not say anything, but from his eyes, Ash knew it wasn't the case. And the hesitation Lance had…it was almost as if he did not want the person to be punished. Which led to only one suspect.

"Paku did this, didn't she?" Ash said, making Lance flinch.

"Please! Don't punish her!" Lance begged Ash.

"This is serious, Lance. If she can cause so much injury in a few hours, she could kill you within days!" Ash countered.

He noticed Lance's eyes were also slightly unfocused.

"Did she try to use Mind Control on you?" Ash asked.

"She wanted me to say that I would stay away from her." Lance admitted. "I fought it, and somehow, I managed to overcome it."

"How?" Ash was puzzled. Nobody except him had overcame the Mind Control before, and Lance isn't even an aura user…or a psychic for that matter.

"I don't know. She made me want to say, 'I will stay away from you', I actually said the first three words and is about to go to the fourth, but my conscience spoke up. It said, 'What the hell are you doing Lance? You are not supposed to stay away from her, you are supposed to protect and stay by her no matter what! So snap out of it!' and somehow with that thought, I managed to break out." Lance mumbled.

'Ah. Sheer willpower, I see. However, Paku is really dangerous when she acts on her mental illness.' Ash thought. "Do you want me to talk to her?" He offered.

"She's just angry. Let her vent it, I don't care if she vents it on me." Lance pleaded. "Don't talk to her, she doesn't know it's wrong!"

"What do you suggest I do then?" Ash sighed, as he started cleaning Lance's injuries and bandaging them. "I can't sit there and let you be abused."

"Let me handle her, Ash." Lance shook his head. "I promised Shiki I'd take care of her."

"The difference between you and Shiki is, Shiki was an aura user, he can easily subdue her, and Paku would listen to him, since she loves him. You have none of these." Ash replied, sighing in exasperation. Pakura is probably venting her anger on Lance because of the fact that the people who killed her beloved fiancé were from Blackthorn, and probably saw Lance as part of Blackthorn as she knew that he was the current Clan Leader.

Her anger and grief of losing her fiancé was now directed to Lance, probably because he made the perfect target, since he would never tell out of his naïve (to her, at least) love for her, and the fact that he is leading the Dragon Clan she despised.

"Don't interfere, please!" Lance cried, shaking his head some more. "If you interfere, I'll lose her! I can't afford to lose her like I did Shiki." Ash felt something wet dripping on his pants, and realized Lance was crying.

"Are you sure you want to handle her alone?" Ash said quietly, and Lance nodded his head vigorously.

"Fine, I'll let you handle this for the time being, but if I feel you cannot cope with it, we will interfere, and I'm afraid you'll have to stay away from her." Ash said grimly, as he made sure the bandage is tight enough so it won't give way, and loose enough for blood circulation.

"Don't interfere, no matter what happens." Lance objected. "I want to prove that I'm really worthy of dating that beautiful princess."

Ash contemplated erasing Lance's memories to prevent him from being harmed further by the psychotic Pakura, but remembered that Lance somehow managed to resist Pakura's Mind Control (which was a surprising feat, considering Pakura is one of the most powerful psychics in the region), which meant Lance would probably be able to break through his memory blocks.

To hate Pakura, who had lost everything the moment her only light in her life (Shiki) went off, was injudicious. It was the Blackthorn people and Team Rocket Ash hated, for doing this to her, causing her to go berserk and vent it on someone innocent, just like how they did her. Ash supposed, if he were her, and someone who is leading the Clan is trying to win him over, he'd hate him and hit him as well just to make himself feel better.

"I don't think you should go back to your room. Do you want to room with Jude or Phillip?" Ash offered. "I'd offer my room, but Cynthia's in there."

Lance frowned. "Is Pakura's room available?"

"I doubt Paku would say yes, and it's-" Ash started.

"Dangerous, I know." Lance cut him off. "I'll be fine."

'I'm so going to regret this.' Ash levitated him back to his room, and knocked on the connecting door. However, there was no answer, and when Ash opened the door, the room was empty.

"Oh, she's not back from whatever she's doing." Ash said. "Alright, you go into her room, just don't mess with her stuff."

"Won't she throw me out when she gets back?" Lance asked.

"I think that is one thing she'd never do, considering the way your people threw her out." Ash said evenly, and Lance visibly winced. "If she does, though, you can come to my room and tell me."

Lance nodded, and closed the door behind him.

"What happened?" Cynthia mumbled, as she rubbed her eyes.

Ash climbed into bed, and hitched the blanket higher. "It's nothing much."

"It's nothing much always means something big happened, Ash." Cynthia said, not deceived. "Tell me. I can handle it."

"Ok straight to the point: Paku is abusing Lance." Ash said, and Cynthia gasped in horror.

"Do you know why?" Cynthia asked.

"What do we know so far?" Ash replied with a question.

"We know that Pakura is from Blackthorn City, and the people abused her before giving her away to Team Rocket, and her biological family killed her only friend and fiancé. Oh, no…" Cynthia widened her eyes as she put two-and-two together.

"Yup, and the worst part is Lance is part of the Blackthorn City Dragon Clan, and the Leader so she would probably direct her anger and hate to him. What is worse is that she knows of the friendly rivalry between her fiancé and Lance. She's extremely loyal to Shiki, and winning her over would be very difficult. It also looks like her past has affected her more than we originally thought. I don't think she was ever the same the moment Shiki died."

Cynthia silently took one of Ash's hands as he spoke, which was unconsciously clenched in a fist, and massaged it until it opened and blood began to flow through his fingers again. She started on the second fist, before saying, "I'm sure she'll make a full recovery. Pakura's damaged, yes, but there is a definite improvement over the girl that was in the hospital days ago."

'The PAL Elite may be the strongest Pokémon Trainers, but yet the most divided.' Cynthia thought, hugging Ash tightly as he could use one. Ash had been strong in the public for far too long; this was the only time he could lay bare his pain, his worry, and Cynthia would be there for him.

"I don't think she'd kill Lance, however." Cynthia said. "If she does, there would be an uproar, especially since Lance is an Elite Four member and a regional Champion at the same time. Besides, she won't have any way left to ruin the Dragon Clan even further. For example, if Clair finds out about this abuse, and Lance refusing to tell, she's probably break. Why? Because she loves her cousin and cares for him, and seeing him like this would unhinge her. And what would happen to the Dragon Clan when their two stars are unable to keep up the reputation? They fall."

Suddenly, Ash was reminded of the fact that Pakura had seen what evils awaits in the world at a young age, where she was embracing Shiki as his life slowly left his body, and where Shiki transferred his powers to her. No one can hurt her anymore, since there was no one left she loves. Ash knew Cynthia was probably right, for she wanted the Dragon Clan to suffer as much as possible, for ruining her life, and for killing Shiki, the only person she ever cared about and loved.

"So, what do you think she'll do to Lance, now she has him wrapped around her finger?" Ash asked.

Cynthia sounded like a thousand years old when she answered him. "Whatever it takes to cripple the Dragon Clan. Permanently."

* * *

"How, brother? Don't you see? I should have died that day, not Shiki. Why should he be the one to pay with his life for my hesitation to kill? It's my fault!" Pakura cried. "I'm sure even Shiki's Pokémon would agree." Jude tried to calm her down as she became somewhat hysterical, and promptly knocked her out by applying pressure to her neck.

'They really broke her.' Jude thought sadly, clearing the stuff on the table, and laying her on the couch. 'But we can't give up. If we do….they'll win, not us.'

As he watched her sleeping form (Jude knew that she was asleep since she did not awake after five minutes, as usually applying pressure to her neck would only last five minutes at most), the phone rang. Jude got up, and answered the phone, wondering who would call at this hour.

"What do you want?" Jude grumbled.

"Where is Pakura?" Much to Jude's chagrin, the voice belonged to one of the Dragon users. Was it Drayden or Drake? Either way, he didn't care.

"Sleeping, duh." Jude replied, like it was obvious. After all, not many people stay up after 2am. In fact, none of them does that, except Pakura, but ever it was clear she needed to be watched 24/7, Jude took it upon himself to take the night shift.

"Darn...can you somehow wake her up? Tell her it's something important." Clair said in the phone.

"I can pass a message, what is it?" Jude asked, though he had a feeling he knew what it was about.

"Tell her to meet us at the lobby at 3am. We're going to have a battle." Drake told Jude.

"Please wait a moment." Jude went over to put some earplugs in her ears, since he knew she was a light sleeper (in fact the slightest disturbance wakes her up), and he didn't want her sleep to be disturbed from what he was about to do...or say, for that matter.

When he got to the phone, however, he took a breath, before shouting, "DO YOU THINK SHE IS THAT FREE TO WAKE UP AT 3AM JUST TO BATTLE A BUNCH OF DRAGON TRAINERS?!" He followed it up with some cuss words, but was interrupted when Pakura mumbled sleepily, and asked, "Who's that, Jude?" Apparently, she could hear Jude even with the earplugs on since Jude didn't really put it on properly.

Jude put the phone on hold and said in a gentler voice, "Oh nothing...some irritating salesman keeps on calling. Go back to sleep."

"Salesman?" Drake echoed incredulously, but Jude did not hear since he had put the receiver on the table.

"Do you want me to handle it?" Pakura mumbled.

"Let me handle it. After all, as your big brother, I should do it for you." Jude smiled.

"Ok…" Pakura muttered, and went back to sleep, and Jude resumed the call after putting the earplugs more securely.

"We're not salesmen!" Clair protested.

"Who the hell cares?! You are all very irritating and inconsiderate, since you are calling at such a late hour! Now shut up and stop calling!" With that, Jude slammed the phone.

"Why are you shouting, Jude?" Ash had opened the door and peeked out.

"Those Dragon trainers called and asked me to tell Pakura to come down to the lobby at 3am for a battle." Jude replied angrily. "I have half a mind to let them meet her and let her kill them or something."

"She went off again, didn't she?" Ash said quietly.

Jude nodded. "Yeah, one moment she can be rational, and the next she's lashing out again. I seriously cannot understand what goes on in her head."

"Guessed as much. She vented her anger on Lance. He had bruises all over, and coughed up a bit of blood." Ash reported.

"Why is the world so cruel to her?" Jude had his head down, tears dripping onto the polished floor. "She never did anything to deserve this."

"Nobody knows, but what we can do know is show her that we'll always be here, and we'll never leave her again." Ash grimaced. "Yes, I am sure she'll exchange her powers and all her positions just to be with Shiki, but you know that is not possible. If it was, I'd have let her."

"But what she's doing to Lance, isn't it crossing the line?" Jude cried.

"No, it's her revenge. Her shot at disrupting the Dragon Clan." Ash shook his head. "I am sure she wouldn't have done any of these if not for the fact that they killed Shiki. I doubt she'd actually kill Lance, since she's going to use him to unhinge the Dragon Clan, and to an extent, break Clair, as a sort of twisted act of revenge for her fiancé."

"I don't know about getting revenge for Shiki's death part. I mean, I had to knock her out because she thinks it's her fault he died, and she became hysterical." Jude scratched the back of his head.

"I guess another reason would be the fact that they are here in the region, which makes it even worse for her since she is forced to face her past. She knew Lance gave Clair the tickets, and she invited them all, which might be another reason to abuse him." Ash shrugged.

"Clair invited them here, we can't say no, she has the right." Jude sighed.

"I know but remember how they tried to get her to join the Dragon Clan she so despised when they found out her Dragon Princess status, and won't take no for an answer?" Ash asked.

"They really messed with her head." Jude muttered. "She's seriously a complicated person, it's hard to understand her."

"Indeed. Even I only understand bits and pieces. We better tread carefully from now on. Just…try not to anger her, you knew how they broke her." Ash grimaced. "Go to sleep, Jude. I'm sure we'll be able to figure out a solution and make sure she doesn't hurt Lance too much. We'll inform the others tomorrow."

Jude nodded, and proceeded to carry Pakura bridal style to his room (since Lance is in her room, and Jude doubted she'd be pleased if she spent the night in the same room as Lance at the moment), and placed her on the bed, while he himself took the other side of the bed.

* * *

The phone rang again. Pakura looked up from her book as she heard the phone ringing while she was waiting for the Poképuffs to be baked.

When one looks at her right now doing something as normal as baking, she doesn't look the type to be one who had someone in her room, beaten up and emotionally distraught at the fact that he couldn't save her, instead of regretting to be near her. She shuffled from the kitchen and across the living room where the phone was.

She coughed as she walked the rest of the way and answered the phone, which turned out to be Clair.

"Is there anything you want?" Pakura asked. "And no, I'm not accepting a battle until I get my affairs in order." Her tone indicated no room for argument.

"Aside from that, I was wondering if you have seen my cousin, as he never returned to his room. I was told you were probably the last person to see him." Clair asked, anger seeping in her voice, knowing that Pakura probably knew who killed her Dragon Clan but refused to act in the name of justice.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him." Pakura said, slight amusement gracing her features as she heard a noise of frustration. "I'm sure he'd show up, knowing how he's hopelessly attached."

"Don't you care for a life?" Clair was incredulous.

"Not if they weren't my people, and therefore, my responsibility. Besides, he's a Champion and a member of the G-men, I'm sure he can handle himself." Pakura pointed out. "When he returns, I'm sure he'll try his best to take down whoever killed his Clan." With that, she slammed the phone, and walked towards her room, humming a gentle tune. She took her card key and unlocked the door, to see a somewhat sleepy Lance stirring.

"Well, Champion Lance, it looks like your cousin really cares for you and wishes you to return to her and continue the investigation." Pakura smirked, folding her arms.

"I…" Lance started, but Pakura held up a hand.

"I think she'll do whatever it takes to get you back." Pakura said.

"I don't want to go back!" Lance protested. "She can't make me."

"I know she can't. And she won't." Pakura replied.

Lance was about to give her a grateful smile, but she said, "I will make you want to go back yourself."

"W-What?" Lance was shocked.

"I know it hurts, but if you hadn't tried to come close to me, and take Shiki's place, then I wouldn't have to punish you. What is more, you're the Leader of the Dragon Clan I despise so much and I want my revenge."

Pakura gave a sad smile that had malice hidden underneath it. She lifted Lance with telekinesis, and he struggled for breath, as the telekinetic force was holding him by the neck.

Lance regretted the fact that he never openly defected from the Clan when he left for his Pokémon Journey, as Pakura threw him against the vase, the broken pieces impaling him, his blood dripping onto the carpeted floor.

Meanwhile, Ash heard the vase breaking and a thud. He just knew that Pakura is abusing Lance again. He regretted the fact that he wasn't able to save Pakura from the very beginning. If only he didn't find out too late.

They couldn't seek outside help, for if the public caught wind of Pakura's condition, she would have been sent to PAL Rehab, as she would be branded as a threat that may kill innocent lives. And they may never see her again. Nobody wanted that to happen, because she didn't deserve to be locked up once more after all she been through and what she did for the Elite.

If he was supposed to be the one to save the world, why can't he save his own friends?

Only a miracle could overcome this situation, and for Pakura to accept Lance as a love interest, or at the very least, a friend, as he knew Lance genuinely cared for her and loved her, but she was buried with grief for her fiancé to notice that.

He remembered something Pakura had told him years ago, when she took him in.

"_Don't give up hope just yet. It's the last thing to go. When you have lost hope, you have lost everything. And when you think all is lost, when all is dire and bleak, there is always hope."_

Ash winced as he heard Lance groan in agony in the other room, but remembered Lance telling him not to intervene.

He shouldn't expect it to be too easy, since she had been suffering for years after all. As long as he was sure Pakura won't kill Lance, there is still hope for her. As long as she is alive, it is not too late to save her completely.

**BP: (Note: Questions are underlined)**

**Well, like I said, Pakura's mental. Just too buried in her grief to notice that people wish to help her. Oh well, don't worry, she'll snap out of it once something happens to Lance. No, he won't die, but it'll be enough for her to have this "Oh God, what have I done?" feeling. Besides, she is suffering for many years (almost all but five years of her life), so obviously she won't recover in a matter of days. **

**Don't ask why she gets the focus, since she's the one causing all the problems in the first place. I'm trying to give more focus to the others. **

**School is starting soon, so I would not be able to update in the regular 2-3 week pace, I am very sorry about that. **

**The mission that I wrote is actually inspired by a dream I had. In the dream, Pakura was missing for a few days, and when the other Elites set out to look for her, she was found wearing skimpy clothes, and was revealed to have secretly gone on a infiltration mission involving a pimp, and was later seen torturing the pimp while the pimp screamed in front of the other Elites. Don't ask how I get that dream. **

**Mysterypink98 and I used to talk about our weird dreams together (before she went off for college and did not talk to me for three months and counting). She didn't wish me a happy birthday, and all I was hoping was a text so show she remembered. Still, stories have to go on. And no, I am not bashing the Dragon trainers, I actually like them, but it's for the sake of a running gag. **

**I have a new story idea I am going to write after I complete the PAL Chronicles and the Dark Chronicles, and I'll probably write it alongside Heartsong Symphony and the resurrection fic. **

**Title: Ashura Kurobane: The Kanto Journey**

**Summary: What if Ash was raised by the current Princess and Prince of PAL, who is also known as the Dragon Duo? Meet Ashura Red Satoshi Kurobane, who inherited his parents' love for Pokémon, and the desire to protect them from any harm and danger. **

**However, the Kurobanes is a rather eccentric wealthy couple who delight in the macabre in humans as they were also professional assassins and the fact that both of them did not have proper upbringing as well when they were children, they were not the best at knowing what to teach a child, and ended up teaching Ash twisted things when he was growing up, besides training him in aura and psychic powers. Like how to get your revenge (read kill) without getting caught, and never trust anyone, as even the seemingly good side has darkness hidden within it. **

**Spending time with the other members of the PAL Elite Four while growing up did not help either, as the PAL Elite members also will kill without hesitation to protect their region, and was happy to teach Ash what they knew so he would protect the Pokémon in the other regions.**

**When Ash starts his Pokémon Journey, they had better watch out. Because Whether or not Ash cares for the good and evil in the world, they can be sure that Ash will be a Pokémon master. And he would do whatever it takes to do so. **

* * *

**Note: In this story, Ash is much smarter, and can also wield aura (however, his abilities would develop in the journey). He would also be able to wield psychic powers, and is fairly talented at hand-to-hand combat and weapon combat.**

**Ash will inherit Shiki's noble tendencies and the wish to protect those he cared for. However, he would have sadistic tendencies and dark and cold personality (much like Wednesday Addams), and often sport an emotionless expression thanks to his upbringing. **

* * *

**Questions**

**1\. Should Shiki and Amethyst be Ash's biological parents (and they temporarily lived in Pallet Town for some peace), or Ash's real parents died and they took him in, and raised him in Pallet Town to allow Ash to live a "quiet life" before his journey? **

**A: Shiki and Amethyst to be biological parents. It's be interesting to see what Ash would look like. **

**B: His real parents died when he was an infant so they took him in and raised him themselves. I like Ash's appearance enough anyway. **

**2\. Should Shiki be alive? (in this case, they are a married couple)**

**A: Yes, he should be alive for once. And he should be an Elite Four member, replacing Rosaline in this story. Let him replace Amethyst as the Elite Leader. **

**B: Nah, keep him dead or away from her. I just like to see Amethyst suffer. And Rosaline should be in the story as an Elite member.  
(Look, I didn't tell mysterypink98 that I am going to write this story, so if she finds out I used her character in a story she doesn't know about, who knows what would happen)**

**3\. Should Ash travel alone or with friends?**

**A: Alone. If with friends, it's almost as if he can't achieve anything without his travelling companions. He is an independent person anyway, he'll manage without them, since he knows survival skills and how to cook.. Besides, I'd like you to bash Misty, because I don't like her. **

**B: With friends. It'd be interesting to find out how they handle the extremely independent Ash with his dark personality. (But if you choose this you have to tell me if you want Misty in the group)**

**4\. What Pokémon should Ash have since he was a child? **

**A: An Eevee, since Shiki's Espeon and Amethyst's Sylveon are obvious mates. Maybe it evolved before he started his journey (If you choose this, please tell me what Eeveelution you want him to have), and he got another starter from Professor Oak. **

**B: A Pichu. Evolved into a Pikachu before he started his journey, and Professor Oak gave him another Pokémon, since Ash decided to let the other three have the basic starters.**

**5\. Should his parents give him access to Mega Evolution before he leaves? **

**A: Yes! It'll be funny to see them gap in shock at the evolution beyond the evolution. **

**B: Nah, his parents should withhold it until they feel he is mature enough to have a Key Stone of his own. **

**6\. Should Ash set his goals to be BOTH a trainer and a Coordinator? **

**A: Yes! It'll make a nice change, and it'll be interesting to see Ash participate in a Grand Festival. **

**B: Nah, Pokémon Leagues would do, it's enough. **

**7\. When Professor Oak gives Ash his second Pokémon, what would you want it to be? (It can be any ****Pokémon besides the one Ash had since young)**

**I am thinking of making this an "Ashura Kurobane" series, where he travels the other regions (Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, etc.). What do you think?**

**Sorry for the bad chapter, and no I am not bashing the Dragon Masters, it's a recurring running gag. Should Pakura battle them later in the chapters? It's up to you. If you have any suggestions on how I should vary this running gag, you can tell me about it. **

**Any questions, please ask via review, PM or comment on my Deviantart post (I have answered a few questions the readers had in Deviantart). I'll collate the questions and answer them in my next Deviantart post. **

**Here is the votes so far for the travelling companion for Heartsong Symphony:**

**Pakura: 14 votes**

**Phillip: 4 votes**

**Rosaline: 6 votes**

**Jude: 3 votes**

**Anyway, do review, favourite and follow!**


	20. Calm before the storm, that past trauma

**BP: I know, I have not updated this in a long time. I have been busy with all my assignments, and they gave me a portfolio to do right off the bat in my first week of my final year. And there is just assignments after assignments, and they gave the second one while we were still doing out first. Quite mean of them, isn't it? So, I have dedicated my weekends to do my assignments, and I haven't even started writing on the chapters ever since I posted on the last one, the assignments were that heavy. **

**Would you believe me if I wanted to kill Pakura off at the end of Season 1, and make the others look for a replacement? Probably not, but that was my initial plan, since she's "too powerful" to live in my opinion, and she was supposed to be this irredeemable psychopathic villain who betrayed the Elites' trust. She's not sane, hence the mental illness. **

**I actually modelled her based on that Esther girl from orphan, and Henry Evans from The Good Son. Appears well-mannered, sophisticated, talented and she was even the good and mature Leader (albeit quiet) at first, but hides her true psychopathic and murderous self behind that mask. She is a dangerously ill person who really needs help. **

**Pakura's supposed to be this evil, remorseless, psychopathic, sadistic and selfish princess who was utterly incapable of appreciating the wellbeing of others and found the idea of death to be rather enthralling, and her tragic past was going to be the reason for me to kill her off so that she'd be happy when her fiancé comes for her, just like the first Princess Pakura, and it's supposed to be parallel to it. **

**So, in other words, she's supposed to be an unlikable yet tragic character. Let's just say mysterypink98 didn't like the plan, and threatened me with death, and subsequently, you readers would probably kill me if I did that, based on the reviews. Mysterypink98 once said that since she's so popular with the readers, I should not kill her off. **

**Oh well. And that is why she's still alive to this chapter. Otherwise….**

**Oh yes, I would like to tell you readers that mysterypink98 and I are no longer friends, and we are not speaking anymore. In other words, I am by myself this time from now onwards. **

**Warning: Heavy FNAF references and characters here. Phillip likes survival horror games. Don't ask why, he's the gamer here, and he does have a sadistic streak about him. Brief Ace Attorney references as well.**

Clair knew something was up, and she went up to the twelfth floor. She went looking for Lance, but she didn't find him. She knew he was probably up in the twelfth floor, which was the floor Pakura resides in. However, she knew she had to wait until the middle of the night, due to the PAL Champion banning everyone from that floor. She took the elevator to the said floor, and sure enough, the living room was empty.

It had occurred to her that Pakura might have killed her cousin, and that thought made her wonder if Lance was dead, and that they had stuffed his body somewhere cold to preserve it like a trophy. She headed to the kitchen, where there was a fridge she knew was large enough to store a few bodies. Clair gulped, and opened the door, but all she saw were various food and drinks, and even desserts such as leftover chocolate custards, but no body.

"Looking for a midnight snack?" A voice asked. Clair turned to see Cynthia standing there.

Clair stayed silent, wary, as Cynthia approached, and went on, "Go ahead. Eat, drink. Don't let me stop you. They won't notice if something's missing anyway." To prove her point, she took a Banana Split Smoothie that was made by Pakura, and drank it. 'Hmm, heavenly.' Cynthia thought. 'I wonder if she'd give me the recipe for it.'

"What did you guys do to Lance?" Clair asked, as Cynthia took a meaty pot pie and heated it up with the oven.

"Do? Us? Oh, I get it. You think we did something to Lance to make sure he stays loyal to Pakura. You think one of us killed him." Cynthia said knowingly, as she took another gulp of the smoothie while waiting for her food to be ready. "Clair, come on. We'd be caught in five seconds flat if we did it."

"You know something." Clair stated.

"Something about what?" Cynthia asked, giving an amused smile.

"You know what I mean, Champion Cynthia." Clair said with an edge to her voice.

Their eyes locked, and Clair realized how furious she was with the people in the PAL group and those associated with it. That she didn't believe for a second that Cynthia didn't know what happened to Lance and who wiped out her Clan. That she felt completely betrayed that none of them would help her being that killer to justice.

"If I were you, I'd drop the investigation." Cynthia said warningly. "The killer had a motive, and a good one at that. That is why no one would convict the person responsible. Besides, I don't see why you're so upset over it. Your family is still alive, and the killer missed some of them, so it's not as if it's a total loss of your Clan."

Clair clenched her fists. "What do you know? All of the Clan members are as close as family. That monster just killed most of who I looked up to as my mentors!"

"Oh, of course. You'll be the next heir of the Blackthorn Dragon Clan, since Lance is probably going to give it up due to his Champion position." Cynthia muttered, as she heard the oven ding, and she took out her pie, and started on it. "Really, Clair, have you ever thought of the real reason why Shiki gave up his position in the first place?"

Clair stayed silent, as Cynthia said, "No, you thought Shiki couldn't cope, but you're wrong. Shiki was an extremely talented prodigy, he would handle a high position like that with ease. But, he stuck to his values, and stuck with it until the end, which earned my respect."

"What do you know about our Clan, Champion Cynthia?" Clair sighed.

"I know more than you think, and I know why the PAL Elites did not, and will not give the information on your Clan's killer." Cynthia answered truthfully, as she marvelled at the taste of the meaty pot pie.

"What?" Clair was shocked. Does it mean ALL of them knew who killed her Clan?

"I think you should get the blindfold off your eyes. Believe me when I say the truth is ugly. But the truth would prevent the reputation of your Clan plunging further, and a hope for a new start. One day, you'll understand." Cynthia advised, and looked at the clock. "I think you better go, before those five come back. They are out, but if they catch you here, let's just say you'll find out why they are not ordinary Elites, and you'll be disturbed at what they like to do."

With that, she threw the empty smoothie cup in the nearest bin with stunning accuracy, which unnerved Clair, as the bin was all the way at the other side of the kitchen, and proceeded to the fridge to get another smoothie.

Unknown to them, Lance was eavesdropping from behind the television in the living room. He pulled down his sleeves to cover the bruises he had on his arms.

'Sorry, cousin, but I'll go against you, and the remaining clan members if I have to, if it means protecting her, and not losing my values.'

* * *

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Pakura asked coldly, glaring at her Elites and Ash. She had found out that her CommuniDex was now modified in a way such that a beeping noise would be emitted from the other CommuniDexes when she leaves the Tower, and a blinking red light would appear would happen if she was in a one kilometer radius away from a bar/pharmacy.

Apparently, this was so that she would not stock up on her anti-depressants or her liquor, which Ash had destroyed. That night, she had left the Tower in secret, which alerted her Elites and Ash, who followed her secretly.

When she was nearing the bar, Ash shouted for her to stop. That made her angry, as her target was now alerted to her position, and almost escaped, if not for the fact that her Sylveon had tripped and immobilized him with her ribbons. Not to mention her Espeon using Psychic on him to restrict his movement as well, before she was forced to finish him off quickly.

It turned out she left not to stock up on her antidepressants or whatever, she was in the middle of a mission. And now, they nearly ruined the success of her mission.

"Er…well, it was a precaution…" Phillip stated sheepishly.

"And we can laugh about it, right?" Rosaline gave a nervous laugh.

"Oh, I'll give you something to laugh about." Pakura hissed. With that, the four of them found themselves glowing pink, and Pakura jumbling the pink orbs that came out of their bodies, and reinserted a different pink orb into them. They closed their eyes, bracing for pain, but nothing happened.

Ash dared himself to open his eyes, only to realize Pakura was standing to his left, when he remembered she was at his left. To his horror, he found that he was staring at….himself?

"What happened?" Ash realized that the one that looked like him spoke up, and had…Rosaline's voice? 'He' turned to see Rosaline, and said, "Hey, you're me!"

"What do you mean, you're me?" Rosaline spoke, but it was in Jude's voice. "What the heck just happened?" 'Rosaline' muttered, and stared down at 'her' nightgown. "Why the hell am I wearing a dress now?!"

"I think…" Someone spoke up in Phillip's voice. "Paku had switched our bodies around."

"Oh man!" Jude groaned, looking down at Rosaline's body, which he was now inhabiting.

"So it looks like…Phillip is in Jude's body, Jude is in Rosaline's, Rosaline is in mine, and I am in Phillip's." Ash ticked off. "This is so mixed up."

"Since you like to invade privacies so much, I have give you something to think about. The only thing you'll be worried about is that whoever is in your body would see your privates, especially when you have to pee in the middle of the night, and comparing your lengths. And whoever is in Rosaline's body would need to…wear an extra undergarment at the chest area." Pakura smirked, and walked back to the Tower.

The four switched up members groaned, as they trudged back towards the Tower, wondering how they would get through the night.

* * *

_Ash found himself in a garden, and much to his chagrin, he was still in Phillip's body. He saw a young woman with jet black hair sitting down near the edge of a lake, and for one moment he thought it was Pakura, but something about her was different. _

_The woman stood up, and seemed to have sensed him, for she stood up, and turned around, which enabled him to have a better view of her outfit. She was wearing an old dress that is made of silk and chiffon and had puffy pink sleeves with white ruffled edges, and its bottom was white, with more ruffled edges. There was a pink velvet bow just below her neck, and was holding a parasol that had the same colour theme as her dress. The woman had the brightest sapphire blue eyes he had ever seen, and had such breathtaking beauty he almost couldn't breathe when he saw her. _

_"You are…" Ash gasped as he recognized her as Pakura Goldstein, the first Princess of the PAL Region. _

_"Hello, Prince Ashura." Pakura Goldstein curtseyed. _

_"Hello." Ash bowed to her out of respect. "How did you know who I was?"_

_"Your aura is still the same, no matter whose body you inhabit, my Prince." Princess Pakura replied. She had a soft, musical voice and it had an elegant touch to it. _

_"What are you doing here?" Ash whispered. _

_"Dreams always opens the door to visitors, dead or alive." Pakura explained. "How do you think you are able to meet your mum here?" _

_"You know about it?" Ash gasped. _

_"Of course. Your wish to find out what happened to your mother allowed me to grant you a meeting with her for you." Princess Pakura said, as she opened her parasol, and shielded him from the sunlight. "And I am here again to make clear what path you should take."_

_"What do you mean?" Ash asked. _

_Pakura smiled, and a staff appeared at her free hand. She used her staff to conjure an aerial view of the PAL region with a water mirror. "I'm saying, that fear is always one's greatest enemy."_

_"You know her real name?" Ash looked at her in awe, and she nodded. _

_"I have been watching the region even in death, Prince Ashura. When things get dire, I believe in seeking the older generation for help, for they have the wisdom. That is why when I don't know what to do, I make use of my séances to seek the help of Prince Pierce." Pakura replied, nodding towards her staff, and Ash noticed the staff had the crystal ball the colour of Amethyst's eyes on top of it. "You know, Team Rocket is a monstrous organization. They got hold of my DNA from my resting place and made use of it to experiment on her. The punished her often because she didn't display the flair I had." _

_"But you were like in your early twenties when you developed aura." Ash protested in shock at the revelation, remembering this from history lessons Rosaline would teach him back then. _

_"I know, but they seemed to think she'll get it instantly when they mixed my DNA in for experimentation." Pakura muttered bitterly. "Do not worry, Prince Ashura. Princess Amethyst is not irretrievable."_

_"She can be saved?" Ash felt hopeful. _

_"Yes. If she isn't saved…." A red energy consumed the view, which destroyed the peaceful and serene aura the image seemed to have emitted earlier. _

_"She'll take the region down with her?" Ash widened his eyes. _

_"No, even she doesn't have the power to do that. This is the future I predict for the PAL Region many years from now, if she never moves on. She's self-destructive, and you saw how her past has affected the region. The effects would be like a domino, and this would ruin what Prince Pierce had set out to create. And the region is like my nursery, I don't want this to happen either. The only thing I want is peace in our region, for Pokémon and humans to live in harmony, and to treat each other as friends. Neither do I want to see my fellow Princess end up like me. That girl holds a lot of fear in her, especially the fear that she'll hurt someone like she did Prince Shiki." _

_"The fear to love someone for fear she'd break." Ash said quietly, and Princess Pakura nodded. "But Shiki's death wasn't her fault." _

_"I know that, you know that, they know that. Everyone knows that, but Amethyst doesn't. She couldn't see that, because she had been convinced that whatever happened since she's a child was her fault. You saw how they blamed her for her birth. You saw how they punished her. She has been through a lot." Princess Pakura nodded. _

_"You said she can be saved. But how?" Ash asked. _

_"Love." Princess Pakura smiled. "Love can break a person, but it can also mend a person. It's like a double-edged sword. Just like how tragedy can make someone strong, but yet break them emotionally. It's the same thing. But I am here to say, that it's up to her to save herself, and find out what she wants. I'm not saying she'll recover from her mental illness quickly, but starting to love would be a huge step. You can't interfere with this, or force her to accept help. She has to choose to ask for help herself." _

_"Do you know who would be capable of saving her, and giving her the love she needs?" Ash enquired._

_"The Dragon Champion." Princess Pakura replied. _

_"Lance?" Ash said, and Princess Pakura nodded. _

_"I think he'd make a good Dragon Prince, as per Prince Shiki's wishes. I'm sure that Dragon Champion would find the answers he seeks, and help her restore the reputation she's trying to hold together. Prince Shiki still lives in the girl, I am sure she'll be able to open her eyes and find out what is it she's supposed to do. And your role…"_

_"My role?" Ash prompted. _

_"Is to save the region from the ultimate danger that will threaten PAL soon, and deliver the final blow as the Chosen One. After that….I am sure PAL would be in good hands." _

Ash opened his eyes…or rather, Phillip's eyes, and sat up. He had suggested that they acted like nothing happened so that their love interests wouldn't suspect a thing, and agreed to tell it to them in the morning. This means Rosaline was now in his room, sleeping with Cynthia. Thank goodness it was Rosaline who inhabited his body, otherwise…Ash shuddered to think what would happen, since Cynthia is rather scary if she wants to be, and her new found skills in weapons makes her all the more deadlier. But that's why he loves her.

It looked like the situation in the future would become dreadful, if not why else would the first Princess step in to give advice? And it looked like despite being called the Dark Princess, she is a truly good and caring person, having a desire for peace in the region.

Ash exited Phillip's room, and went up to the rooftop, only to see someone was already there. He knew although the person looked like Jude, it was actually Phillip, since Pakura (Ash couldn't call her Amethyst for some reason), had swapped their souls with a mysterious psychic power. Ash speculated she might have figured out the flaw of his Indomitable Will, where he isn't immune to external psychic attacks.

"Couldn't sleep?" Phillip asked.

"I'm just here to clear my mind." Ash replied. "How about you?"

"Not used to this body." Phillip indicated himself. "Now I'm the tallest in the group, and it doesn't sit very well."

"He isn't much taller than you." Ash rolled his eyes.

"So, what did you dream of tonight?" Phillip asked, smiling.

"I met Pakura Goldstein." Ash answered.

"Wait, you met the first Princess?" Phillip was awed. "What's she like?"

"She isn't so bad. She longs for peace and harmony between Pokémon and humans. She's rather cheerful with a happy-go-lucky and somewhat carefree disposition, if you ask me. Quite different from the portraits and pictures of her." Ash commented.

"I think it's because she's reunited with her friend, Natsuhi or whatever his name was." Phillip said.

Ash nodded, knowing Phillip was right.

"So, what did she want?" Phillip questioned.

"Did you know Team Rocket made use of her DNA to experiment on Paku, in hopes that she would replicate her talent?" Ash asked, and Phillip widened his eyes.

"You're kidding." Phillip said.

"No, I'm not." Ash replied. "They were hoping she'd replicate Pakura Goldstein's abilities and gain her talents. But…."

"It failed?" Phillip asked.

"I won't say it failed, but they need to read up on historical facts. Pakura Goldstein is not born with aura, and her talent only showed at the early twenties. But since Paku herself could not replicate her talent as a child…" Ash mimed a whip hitting someone.

"I knew they were screwed up!" Phillip hissed.

"Aren't they already?" Ash said dryly.

"True. Now they are just even more so. Please continue." Phillip replied.

"Oh, she told me an impending danger would happen in the region, and the five of us would have to eliminate it, we're the only chance the region has." Ash replied. "I think it means the five of them would come for us soon. After all, we know Giovanni is looking for his weapon. She also said love is the only thing that can save our Leader now, and we might have a future Dragon Prince in place of Shiki for the Dragon Duo."

"I thought he was going to be the heir to the Blackthorn Dragon Clan." Phillip said dryly. "Help restore the Clan's reputation, for the sake of the future generations."

Ash stayed silent for a long time, before he finally said, "Phillip, I don't think Lance has the intention of staying with his Clan, not after what he saw, and know what Shiki did. Lance actually fits Paku's type of guy, because for one, I know he's willing to sic his Pokémon on human criminals, and I doubt he'd care if they actually survived. Furthermore, despite his intimidating appearance and status, he's actually a fairly nice person. What is more, he's going to follow in Shiki's footsteps, and stay here, no matter what happens to him. It's a good thing, though."

"Why?" Phillip gave him a look.

"Because he'll be the one to give her that love she needs to recover."

* * *

Grimsley was knocking on Rosaline's door to wake her up. "Good morning Rosa." He said. "Rise and shine, remember we need to go to town together."

Footsteps sounded, and the door burst open, and Rosaline came out in her nightgown, rather irritated. "I'm not Rosaline, Grimsley!" Jude shouted in Rosaline's body.

Grimsley realized that was Jude's voice, and stuttered in shock, "J-J-Jude? Or are you just Rosa with Phillip's voice changer?" He had heard Phillip talking about it the other day, which disguises voice really well, and no one would be able to make use of the high-tech technology found in the Crime Department to detect wavelength of the voice to tell it was disguised.

Jude grabbed Grimsley by his scarf, and shook him violently. "Of course I'm Jude, you dimwit! Paku swapped our souls last night as punishment for interrupting her mission! We can't change back unless she does it herself, and I…or she needs to pee!"

Grimsley felt a bubble of laughter in his body, and did not hesitate to laugh out loud at the thought of Jude struggling with his…or rather, Rosaline's bladder for the whole night, and due to privacy reasons, did not dare go to the bathroom.

"It's not funny! Everyone is having the same problem!" Jude snapped, whacking Grimsley over the head, and storming back to Rosaline's room, slamming the door behind him.

'Ouch….Jude sure packs a punch without aura.' Grimsley thought, holding his throbbing head. He wondered whose body Rosaline was inhabiting now. Before he left to find her, however, he can't resist shouting, "Close your eyes when you pee!"

Meanwhile, Rosaline was in her personal studio, humming and painting a picture. Being in Ash's body wasn't too bad, since she seemed to be stronger now, but then again, Ash is naturally stronger than most of them, except Jude and possibly Pakura.

"Rosaline?" A voice said. Rosaline looked up to see Jasmine standing there. Rosaline guessed that she recognized her based on her painting skills, as she is the only one who can paint.

"Hey, Jasmine." Rosaline greeted sheepishly.

"Why do you look like Ash?" Jasmine gave her a funny look.

"Paku switched us around. We'll be stuck like this until she switches us back." Rosaline muttered, dipping her brush in the cup of water to wash it.

Jasmine looked around her studio, which was filled with paintings. "You painted all these?" She was awed at the beautiful pictures. Jasmine knew Rosaline was a talented painter, but to see her in action was something else. "Where do you get your ideas?"

"From my everyday life. My pictures always tell a story." Rosaline replied. "This one is about a girl who plays the role of a strong princess in front of her kingdom, a helpful leader in front of her subordinates and a contented girl in front of her friends." She indicated the (upside-down) face of an adorable girl who had a determined expression on her face, with clean and pressed clothes which was pink in colour and a styled hair.

"What about this one?" Jasmine pointed to a half-finished face of the girl, who had messed up hair, tears ruining her makeup, and a miserable expression on her face. Her clothing was black to match her mood. "She's sad."

"That's because deep inside, she wishes to be saved from the monsters consuming her." Rosaline answered, as she flipped the painting around with telekinesis.

"Is she waiting for something?" Jasmine asked.

"She's waiting for someone to help her, see through her lie of being fine." Rosaline answered. "She's losing hope that someone would save her, and believed it to be too late. But…" She dipped her paintbrush in black, and wrote at the border separating the two faces. Jasmine thought she was painting, "I'm fine.", but when Rosaline turned her painting upside down to continue the half-finished painting, it said, "Save me."

"Amazing. You came up with the story?" Jasmine asked.

"I had help." Rosaline answered. "All this girl needs is a friend."

'I think I know where you got that story from.' Jasmine thought, thinking about Pakura. Sure enough, there is something about the girl that made her resemble a younger Pakura.

"I've been thinking, do you think I should buy something sweet for the others from the Chocolate Factory after I finish this painting?" Rosaline said to Jasmine.

"You have a Chocolate Factory?" Jasmine was excited. She knew Phillip had a sweet tooth and would probably love something there.

"Of course, we have them all over the region. Nearest is located in the next town. They're really popular since they sell chocolate by the truckload, and they sell things you wouldn't even imagine." Rosaline nodded. "There's also a bakery half an hour drive away. I heard they sell the best goods there. We can surprise the others, with what they have been going through lately. Perhaps we can pick up breakfast for ourselves on the way, if you like."

'She really is an extraordinary person. There is something about her that makes me feel drawn to her like a magnet, as if I want to know her better.' Jasmine thought, but she nodded, and decided to wait until Rosaline finished her painting.

* * *

Jude decided to go in the woods today, as due to the hectic events happening, he didn't even have some alone time. One good thing about the body-swapping incident was that he was left alone, along with the others to give time to adjust to the new bodies, as it was clear Pakura wouldn't change them back anytime soon. He had packed a picnic basket with various food and drinks he could find in the fridge, and PokéChow for his Pokémon (for those who doesn't want to eat the food and drinks he had brought)

"Look what I have." Jude told Liepard, showing her the various treats he had.

**"Alright!"** Lieaprd's eyes lit up. **"We'll have a real feast!" **

Jude laughed, as he plucked a blackberry from a nearby bush, and tossed it to Liepard in a high arc. "And may everyone…"

Liepard jumped, and caught it in her mouth, and said, **"Have a good time here, and don't goof off!"** She licked her lips at the sweet taste of the blackberry.

Jude shook his head in amusement, as he set out the food, and sent out his Pokémon for breakfast. The Pokémon immediately pounced on the food, especially the food and drinks he had laid out. Most of them were leftover pastries Pakura had made, and everyone knew she makes delicious food and drinks all the time, especially her Pokéblocks, Poffins and Poképuffs.

There were also his share of supplies from the Bakery and Chocolate Factory that Rosaline and Jasmine got for everyone, so Jude was confident that he had enough food for all his Pokémon.

The day was glorious, with a blue sky and soft breeze, but due to the temperature, Jude was sure winter would be approaching soon. The food was wonderful as well, whether it was made by Pakura or from the Bakery and the Chocolate Factory. Jude especially liked the iced cookies. Now that Shiki had given his memories back, he remembered doing the icing on the pastries Pakura would bake. Jude wondered if his little sister would let him do the icing again for her cookies and her cakes, as he remembered they had fun doing it together.

"Rosaline? Are you with Jude?" A voice said. Jude looked up to see Karen, and immediately turned his back, hoping she'd go away. Instead, she walked over, and sat next to him.

"So, tell me, is Jude being a bad boy again?" Karen asked smoothly. Jude knew that Karen was showing her somewhat dark side, which is befitting of her type speciality. He had heard she was a nice person, though.

"No, I am not." Jude replied, and Karen jumped at the voice coming out of Rosaline. "I'm here to get some peace and quiet. And boy, did I come to the wrong place."

"J-Jude?" Karen spluttered.

"That's me." Jude muttered, scowling.

"What happened?" Karen was genuinely bewildered.

"Why would you care?" Jude gave her a funny look.

"Look, I know what happened to you." Karen stated, placing her hand over his. "Phillip told me. You didn't deserve what she did to you, and neither was it your fault that you killed them. It was an accident, you were desperate."

"Perhaps. It could be worse, I suppose." Jude mumbled, looking at Karen, before sipping on some hot chocolate he had brought in a flask. He sighed in relief at the sweet taste, before handing Karen a slice of cherry pie. "You should try one."

Karen accepted, and took a bite. She lit up at the taste.

"Where did you get this?" Karen asked.

"Get? Paku made it. If you are talking about the Bakery a few towns over, then you should try this." He offered her a brownie, which Karen accepted as well, and took a bite.

"It's amazing." Karen commented. "Where is it?"

"I can take you there if I have the time." Jude offered, giving her a half-smile.

"That would be great." Karen gave a sly smile in return. "Any more treats to share?"

"Didn't you eat your breakfast?" Jude shot her a look.

"No. I was planning to go on diet, but since you're offering…" Karen grinned.

"You're hopeless." Jude muttered, and Karen laughed.

"So, what really happened to you?" Karen asked again.

"Pakura used her psychic powers to switch us all up." Jude explained. "As punishment."

'Sounds to me she's stronger than Will in terms of psychic powers. I hate to see what else she can do.' Karen thought, shuddering.

"By the way, do you have something to wear for the dance party?" Karen was stunned what Jude suddenly changed the subject.

"Well…not really. I was thinking of going into town today to get a dress." Karen answered.

"You can come along with me after breakfast." He gestured to the food that was yet to be consumed. "We're going for the fittings of our outfits today. I'm sure Aquamarine would have a spare dress to fit you into."

Karen smiled in relief. "That's great!"

* * *

"What?" Cynthia was shocked when Ash told her the story of why he was in Phillip's body. His Pokémon had their jaws dropped at the tale.

"I know, so she switched us up as punishment." Ash muttered, and the next thing he knew, Cynthia was laughing so hard that she actually needed support, and she was soon followed by his own Pikachu and Lucario.

"I'm glad you found this funny." Ash said sarcastically.

"Come on, Ash, it can't be that bad." Cynthia said, amusement written on her face. "I mean, at least she didn't harm you in any way."

'Doesn't psychological harm count?' Ash thought. 'Now we're the laughing stocks, and even Lance was laughing at Jude. Jude looked so pissed, but he can't hit Lance like he did Grimsley since he is…oh well.'

"Let's just go for breakfast." Cynthia suggested, and Ash agreed. When they reached the table, most of the others were there already, and Jude was already dressed in Rosaline's clothes, and looking unhappy. Ash thought Jude had it the worst, since he was in a girl's body, and he is not used to the extra weight at his chest area. He supposed he had to pity Rosaline for her privacy to be violated (albeit unwillingly) like that.

Surprisingly, the breakfast table is empty aside from the two of them. Ash assumed the others had went to find Pakura to get her to change them back, but knowing Pakura, she'll probably want to prolong their suffering before she agreed.

"At least we're alone." Cynthia grinned.

"But it's awkward, considering I'm not in my own body." Ash gestured towards Phillip's body he was now inhabiting, as he started to break bits of roll off, and dipping it into hot chocolate.

"Could be worse." Cynthia pointed out. "Are you planning on going for training today?"

"Maybe. Training for the Top 4 would be awkward, since if anyone catches me training, they'd wonder, since Phillip was already kicked out." Ash pointed out. "And I need all the training I can get since it's you we're talking about."

"Don't expect me to go easy on you." Cynthia warned him. "Just because we're boyfriend and girlfriend. And I don't want you to go easy on me either."

"I wouldn't dream of it." Ash grinned, just as the elevator dinged, and Jasmine and Rosaline stepped out, munching on éclairs.

"Where have you two been?" Ash asked, turning to the pair.

"Where's Phillip?" Jasmine asked.

"Here I am, Jas." Phillip emerged from his room, spooning cereal into his mouth from a salad bowl. Not those kinds of salad bowl they put a single serving of salad in, but the actual wooden salad bowl, into which he poured an entire box of Koko Krunch and a gallon of milk.

"What? I'll just be hungry again by lunch." Phillip shrugged, slightly uneasy at their gazes.

"Must be nice to eat like a Rapidash and never gain an ounce." Cynthia muttered, looking at the size of the salad bowl.

"It's called physical training. He burns off most of his calories by training in the gym or playing sports." Ash answered. "So, Jasmine. What have you got there?"

"Rosaline and I went to buy some chocolate products from the nearest Chocolate Factory, and some things from the Bakery." Jasmine replied, as she emptied the contents. Phillip rushed over immediately, and started on a chocolate biscotti dipped in vanilla icing.

"Hey, what happened to your cereal?" Rosaline joked.

"I can finish them." Phillip waved her off.

"It's true. Phillip has a really voracious appetite when it comes to sweets." Ash gave a one-shoulder shrug. "He once told us the sugar gives him the brain juice and the energy for him to function. Whenever something sweets shows up in our fridge, it's immediately consumed by him."

Phillip, who was now munching on a mini chocolate statue of a Pachirisu, shrugged in confirmation.

"By the way, we're going for the fittings of our outfits for the dance party after breakfast. Make sure you wash up, and wear something clean. Aquamarine doesn't like stained food on our clothes." Ash said warningly.

* * *

"Hello, everybody." Aquamarine greeted them, and saw Karen. "And who's this?"

"She's my date for the Coordinator's Dance Party. I was wondering if you have something spare for her." Jude asked.

"Of course. I have plenty." Aquamarine grinned at the prospect of a new client. "Would you guys like some lemonade?"

This was one of the reasons why Aquamarine's Style was popular. Aquamarine would usually make use of her profits for other services, such as serving drinks, and she would always have things such as lemonade or fresh orange juice to serve to customers while they wait for their outfits to be brought over to try.

The ten of them glugged down about two gallons of it before Aquamarine could get them to try on her handmade outfits, and sent them to different dressing rooms. However, before that….

"Pakura, can't you change them back?" Aquamarine asked.

"Yeah, I will, in two conditions: You respect my privacy, and if Rosaline agrees to stay out of my sight, out of my way and out of my business!" Pakura folded her arms.

"What? Why do I get the heavier punishment?" Rosaline started, but the next thing she knew, Pakura lifted Jude and Rosaline up with telekinesis, and lifted them all the way to the ceiling.

"Why do you think?" Pakura glared at her, and Rosaline gulped, knowing the reason why was because she asked for two more chances, and stupidly thought they were ordinary Elites, and didn't bother to train for a few months or take the Hunter Exam before trying to join them. Her worst offence was probably exploring Pakura's room without permission, and she most likely wanted to kill her now.

"Let us go!" Jude persuaded, but his words fell on deaf ears.

'Of course.' Ash thought. 'She chose to levitate both to inflict the fear. However, I think she'll only rough Rosaline's body up a bit, and then switch them back, so that she'll have the physical pain to remember too. Pakura may be mental, but she's not stupid.'

"If I let you go, do you think you can fly?" Pakura asked Rosaline, glaring at the others, silently telling them not to interfere. Rosaline shook her head, and whimpered, "Help…"

Ash knew they were in an extremely dangerous situation because if anyone attacked or even distracted her, she might drop her telekinesis, and both Jude and Rosaline would fall and injure themselves at the very least, as unlike Ash and Pakura, they could not fly.

"Fine, we agree, however, we still have to watch you, because it's no guarantee on what you would do if we didn't." Ash said firmly.

"I don't care what you do as long as you do not invade my privacy like you did for the past few days." Pakura shook her head, and threw Jude back to the carpeted floor. She snapped her fingers, as four pink orbs came out of the four, and then they were back to their bodies. Rosaline winced as she was now on the carpeted floor, and Jude was also shaking in fear.

'What a bizarre group of Elites.' Karen thought, wondering what just happened.

Cynthia had to admit, that the dresses that Aquamarine designed for them were really something special. Her dress was a black cocktail dress which had lace to cover the areas from her neck to chest. The skirt had reached slightly below her knees. While it was supposed to be a cocktail dress, the bottom of the dress looked more like it was from a chiffon dress, as it was loose and flowy at the skirt area. It was also decorated with clear crystals of different sizes at the bottom half of the dress, and they caught the light and glitter.

"Well, look at you five!" Aqumarine gushed when the girls finally came out. "Like five princesses ready for the Royal Ball tonight!" Cynthia noticed that besides her, only Karen was wearing the same coloured dress as her. Karen's was an off-one-shoulder gown that reached nearly to her ankles, with a butterfly hem, and a slit up the side. Around the waist was what looked like a flowery pattern lace which showed off some skin through the tiny holes (though Cynthia could tell it was designed like that), and nipped in as well to reveal Karen's figure. The upper half of the dress also accentuated her chest rather well.

"You look awesome." Ash gasped when he saw Cynthia's dress. He tugged uncomfortably at his bow tie, which was the same colour as Rosaline's dress.

'Why do they get black dresses?' Pakura thought, inwardly grumbling at the fact that her dress was uncomfortable at the chest area. Her dress was a sleeveless soft pink, with satin shells with even paler pink chiffon floating over them, and like Cynthia's, her dress was covered over the hem with clear crystals of different sizes. She wondered if Aquamarine was trying to make her look innocent, which was pointless, considering she was the regional's most dangerous assassin.

Rosaline, on the other hand, was a plain red off-one-shoulder as well, with the hem being somewhat pleated in a way that resembled flames. There were also shades of orange near the hem, which gave it a fiery look.

Aquamarine studied everyone, and went up to Pakura, and commented, "I think I'll need to extend the chest area for your dress. It's looking too tight. Your chest must have gotten bigger since I last measured you. Wonder what you have been doing. At least this can be done in a jiffy."

Lance, who was adjusting his bow tie, spluttered, while Karen snickered. She nudged Lance, and whispered, "So, Lance, won't you two make good-looking children? I'm sure she'd be a good lay in bed, with all her assets that just gets better." That remark made Lance's face look redder than his hair.

"Ok, your outfits are perfect. Just make sure to come collect them in the afternoon before the dance itself." Aquamarine reminded them. The best part (for the PAL Elites' dates at least) was that they didn't have to pay for their outfits. If it were left up to them, they'd just grab what they can find in their closet, instead of those beautifully handmade gowns and tuxedos from Pakura's personal seamstress and dress designer.

* * *

"You don't have anything to wear?" Jude was incredulous, as he stared at Elesa. "The Fashion Collection Contest is in the evening!"

"Sorry, Jude, but I don't exactly want to wear anything old. As a fashion model, I'd probably get laughed at for wearing the same outfits. The media always notes my outfit in every event I'd been to." Elesa looked apologetic.

Jude facepalmed. It was obvious Elesa just went through her whole wardrobe and realized it just now, considering the amount of clothes she owned as a fashion model, though it might be small compared to what he and Pakura herself owned.

"I would have asked Aquamarine or Jin, but Aquamarine is organizing Paku's wardrobe for the Final Round of the Interregional Contest, and she's a special guest for the upcoming party. Jin is also judging the Contest with you, so he's busy as well." Jude sighed. Why do people always procrastinate until the last minute?

"Couldn't you think of an alternative?" Elesa pleaded.

'There is one way, but I don't like to use it.' Jude thought, but said, "Follow me."

Later, Elesa was rummaging through a trunk search of something suitable to wear for the occasion, and finally pulled out a red and black dress from an old trunk. The dress was rather frilly, with frills at the bottom of the sleeves and even at the hem of the dress.

"That dress once belonged to Pakura Goldstein, our first Princess." Jude explained. "Paku has been keeping most of her personal possessions. She admired the Dark Princess a lot, so it isn't really surprising."

"It's a beautiful dress alright, but a little old-fashioned." Elesa commented.

"I agree that it is a little old-fashioned." Jude said. "What are you going to do about it?"

As he said this, he saw a something gold on the table. Jude rook the badge and examined it, and saw it was a golden badge with a number on the back which Jude assumed was an ID number and a tiny Hunter Association's symbol at the bottom. It was designed like a sunflower with the scales of justice and the words "Hunter's Association" was engraved at the bottom side of the badge. Jude widened his eyes, as he recognized it as an Attorney's Badge used in their region.

"Is my stuff that interesting?" A voice asked, and both of them turned to see Pakura standing at the door of her room, holding a plate of chocolate tarts. Her Sylveon and Espeon flanked her, looking at them curiously.

"Do you guys want some?" Pakura offered, as Jude took one without hesitation, and took a bite. As usual, it was delightful to the taste. Elesa, seeing Jude take one, followed suit, and marvelled at the taste. She'd do anything for another taste of the tart.

"Paku, what is this?" Jude held out the badge to her.

"Oh…that's my Attorney Badge. I used to be a Defense Attorney back in my Dragon training days with Shiki." Pakura replied. "I handed my law firm to someone else for him to take care of until I return."

'Was she?' Elesa thought. 'That's news.' What a lot of interesting things she is learning about Pakura today.

"How come Shiki didn't mention this?" Jude asked.

"Well, you never asked, and besides, it's nothing got to do with the Dragon Duo in general, since Shiki used his real identity when he is doing his job as a Defense Attorney." Pakura answered. "I did use my Dragon Princess persona, but I was not seen with the Dragon Prince, or so they thought."

Just then, Pakura's Pokégear rang, and Pakura said, "Please excuse me for a while." She flipped open her Pokégear, switched to speaker mode and answered.

"Hello?" Pakura greeted the caller.

"Hello, Princess Pakura. It looks like you made a reappearance." A male voice said.

"Justin." Pakura acknowledged. "It has been five years, huh?"

"Yes, I did not expect the turn of events either. Who knew you were the Dragon Princess all along, and hiding in plain sight?" Justin replied. "So, are you going to return to the Legend &amp; Co. Law Offices?"

"I'm not sure if I want to take on cases, Justin." Pakura replied. "Besides, you know I'm a very busy person now."

"Oh, I won't disagree there, but you are better in time management than anyone else." Justin commented. "But we'd like to see you back there, after all, you established this firm from scratch alongside Shiki Kurobane, and he disappeared too. You're the best person that can lead this firm. All you need to do is delegate the cases, you don't really have to be a Defense Attorney once more. Everyone misses you, you know."

"My time management is at the cost of my social life. Not that I care." Pakura snorted. "I heard you guys made changes over those years. Perhaps I can come down to check on the law firm, and consider your proposal."

"Good. Leading this firm was extremely stressful. There have been petitions of you coming back to the firm, and you standing on the courtroom once more."

"Yeah, I noticed." Pakura said dryly.

"I mean, after all, you were half the age Miles Edgeworth was when you made your courtroom debut." Justin went on.

"Are you talking about the inexperienced Demon Prosecutor in Los Angeles?" Pakura asked, raising her brow.

"I don't think you should be calling him that, since he's older than you." Justin replied.

"But I've seen so much more than those even older than me, so I can call him whatever I like." Pakura snapped.

"Ok, I guess I can't argue with that, since it's actually true. Anyway, he and his adopted sister Franziska was pretty envious when they heard that. They are at the video screen talking to William about some upcoming case, and they just said they want you to take the defense bench, and break your win record. Apparently they have read all your old case files, and watched you win brilliantly in all of them."

"Yeah, tell them that she hasn't stood in the courtroom for five years already." Jude muttered. "Besides, she's the regional Princess. She already got loads to do even with us taking some of her workload and her other jobs are not helping."

"Well, Chairman William is talking to them right now, and it seems he was unable to convince…" He was cut off when a voice they recognized as William's said, "Give me that phone, Macmillan."

"Alright, Chairman." Justin replied, and William sighed, before saying, "You know Princess, a lot of problems had come up ever since you were revealed as the Dragon Princess, no thanks to my brother. It's already all over the news, and everyone has been asking for your time."

"Tell me about it." Pakura sighed. "What do you want?"

"About that, the two foreign prosecutors want you to take on cases so they could face you." William said apologetically. "The girl was really adamant. Luckily we are not talking in person, otherwise I'd be whipped to death. I was wondering if you could come down and convince them on the fact that you have other commitments to attend to. They just won't believe me when I told them that it's unlikely you would take on another case."

"Fine, I'll come down and have a word with them." Pakura replied, and closed the phone. When she did, she turned to Elesa like nothing happened, and said, "I advise you to alter it to make that dress more stylish."

She picked up a magazine, and threw the magazine to Elesa, who barely caught it, as she was distracted with the tarts. "You should pick up a new fashion from the magazine, see which one would look best from the dress."

Elesa flipped and pages, and found one that she liked that had similar colours to the old dress. However, she would have to shorten the sleeves of the dress, add a sash and ruffle, and get something for the collar.

"But who am I going to find to alter the dress?" Elesa wondered.

"Why don't I do the altering of the dress?" Pakura offered. To anyone, she may look like a good person, offering help when it's needed, but Jude knew better. Behind her smile lies a secret, behind her eyes lies a plan. Behind that image of a loyal Elite and a good Princess lies a terrifying truth. Her innocence is just a mask, and she turns their trust in into a weapon and anyone can be her next victim.

"Really? You would?" Elesa was relieved to hear the offer.

"Yeah. I think people should just try to take the bad things they have, and turn them into something good. It'll be nice if I could help you do that. Turn this into something new for you to wear." Pakura replied. "Don't you agree?"

"Absolutely." Elesa smiled. "Could you get it to me before the Fashion Contest starts?"

Pakura nodded, and Elesa had another request. "Could you let me have those tarts? I'd like to have them."

She nodded again, and with that, Elesa left happily.

"Where are you going to find the time to alter the dress?" Jude frowned.

"It's called Pokémon." Pakura replied. "I taught my Pokémon some tricks in the case that I'm indisposed."

"You're plotting something." Jude said, looking at her warily.

"Oh, Jude. She's a sweet one, isn't she? Do you really think I'd actually hurt her?" Pakura looked somewhat amused.

Jude nodded, seeing no point in lying.

"Come on, Jude. It'll cause an interregional incident if I do something to her." Pakura said mildly, circling him like a wolf ready to attack.

'You don't have anything to lose. You never really cared for the region.' Jude thought, but he said, "Is that why you didn't kill Lance?"

"Looks like you do have brains, brother." Pakura said approvingly.

"What are you going to do to him?" Jude asked Pakura.

"Oh, I get it. You think I am going to torture Lance to death. You think I - Jude, come on. Do you really think I'd do a thing like that?" Pakura rolled her eyes.

"Isn't that what you're doing now?" Jude pointed out.

Pakura hummed the first verse of the Addams' Family Theme Song, before saying. "I like to think what I'm doing is teaching him that we are in two completely different worlds. Any hope of me loving him back is just part of his fantasy. But seriously. All I want is to be with my fiancé. Is it that hard?"

"That's the easy way out. We don't really want to do that." Jude shook his head.

"Of course. It's all about the image, isn't it? That we would never give up on the most difficult case? All you do is keep telling me I should reconcile with you, that I should stop hating and start to love. Sure, it's so easy for you. It'd be a pity if something were to happen to your families, like them getting killed. You'd be sad, wouldn't you, Jude? But hey, accidents can happen…." Pakura trailed off.

"You wouldn't." Jude's eyes widened in horror at her implication that she would kill their families for revenge. "Please, we're trying to help you. I believe that justice needs to be served in this world and as your brother, I can't bear to watch you fall. Ash wants to help you because he wants to get back at his friends for betraying him. I think Lance wants to help you because he truly cares and loves you. He doesn't care if he'd die in this quest to help you. He would give up his own life for you if he had to. And if you're thinking about Shiki and you might hate to admit it, but you don't want Lance to end up like him, well...they loved you to the point that they would give up their lives for you. Just give Lance a chance." Jude found himself shaking his head. Why can't Pakura just see that help is knocking on her door, trying to shove its way to her hands?

"You watch too many movies. Perhaps you should be a screenwriter. Now excuse me while I collect some evidence and attend to a pressing matter." Pakura said smoothly, and walked off.

'I've never seen someone deny love and help that strongly.' Jude thought. 'She wouldn't know it even if it came biting her on the derrière. But this means she definitely needs our help.'

Later, Jude met up with Elesa, who was munching on Pakura's tarts. When she saw him, she said, "Your Leader's very mature for her age, and she's extremely well-mannered. I can't believe she used to be a Defense Attorney!"

'Believe me, there are things about her even we don't know.' Jude thought. 'If only you know what behind that angelic exterior, you wouldn't say that. You'd be screaming all the way back, and having nightmares.'

* * *

During lunch, Ash had decided to take Cynthia to a Chinese restaurant. He had went there once before (at Pakura's recommendation), and found the food to be delicious. However, because of his duties and the fact that they had people to serve food to them back at the Plateau and in the Battle Tower, he hardly had the time to order takeout or go out to eat anymore.

Ash ordered vegetable dumplings and pork buns for the both of them (since he's the one who had been here before, he decided to place the order), and decided to make some conversation while waiting for their order. At least he got to do something normal, which is nice for a change.

"How are your Elites doing?" Ash asked.

"They are doing great, and definitely enjoying their time here. Lucian loves the books in the library, and the others are thinking of going sightseeing today." Cynthia replied. "I was thinking of asking them to get together for Dim Sum or something sometime."

Ash nodded. "At least your Elites can agree on something, unlike us. I don't know how long it has been since we spent time with each other as friends….if you could consider us to be a group of friends, that is."

"Not your fault, though." Cynthia pointed out. "It was due to the unfortunate circumstances, that's all. I'm sure your Elites are trying to fix their relationship as we speak."

"I hope so. I already have a lot on my plate without the fact that my Elites are going a little haywire. After all, the Pokémon World Championship is already in the semi-finals, and everyone's hyped up for it. The event has been a hit so far, and it won't be long before we host the next Trainer's Tournament."

"You're organizing it already?" Cynthia was surprised.

"Of course, although it's pushed back since the Pokémon World Championship is going on. It'll be a long while before we host the next Quarter Anniversary, though." Ash answered.

"Pakura better prepare herself for a lot of attention, now everyone knows she won the first Quarter Anniversary." Cynthia nodded.

"She has been getting too much attention ever since she was revealed as the female half of the esteemed Dragon Duo." Ash muttered. "I had to decline requests for an interview or a press conference as to why she 'disappeared'." At this time, he saw the waiter place their order in front of them, and when Ash looked up, he saw his former friends, and signalled for Cynthia to move closer to him. As they were sitting in a rather dark corner, he was sure they would be concealed and at the same time, listen to what they have to say.

"So, Iris, how was looking for Pakura for a battle?" Brock asked. "You have been looking for her all morning, right?"

"I couldn't find her!" Iris grumbled. "Why is she so adamant in avoiding us fellow Dragon Masters?"

'I could hardly call you a Dragon Master.' Ash thought, as he started on the steamed vegetable dumplings, which was as tasty as he had remembered.

"Have you tried to look in the places she would frequent?" May enquired.

"I did, but when I get there, they would say that she had left, or she never arrived!" Iris huffed. "All I want is a battle with her, it's not as if I'm asking for an autograph!"

'Actually, asking for a battle outside of the tournament is like asking her to spend personal time with you, which she obviously doesn't want to do.' Cynthia inwardly rolled her eyes, as she munched on a pork bun, which was really delicious.

"Poor Clair though. I heard she got thrown out of the Legend &amp; Co. Law Offices. She was following Pakura there as Clair saw she was making her way there. It turned out she was the one who created that law firm and was a Defense Attorney."

'She was a Defense Attorney?' Ash was intrigued at the fact. They had always drove past the Legend &amp; Co. Law Offices as it was located the pathway that connects Ludunt City, Amare City, and Luonto City. Funny how Pakura never mentioned that she was the one that established the firm, probably alongside Shiki, all those times they drove past it.

"Wait, if she was a Defense Attorney, why didn't she defend Misty?" Trip demanded.

"She's friends with Champion Red, remember? She probably pulled the strings to make sure no one defends Misty so that she'd be in jail. I think we better demand a retrial or something, and make sure that Misty has an attorney." May said.

"Yeah, out father is the Gym Leader I think we can appeal for it." Max added.

"And not to mention I can get my brothers to second it as well." Cilan reminded them. "Let's free Misty from her prison!"

"YEAH!" the others shouted, which made everyone glare at them, as they like to eat their food in peace. They had the sense to be embarrassed, and got their food in the form of takeaway, and left the restaurant, saying something about looking for Pakura after lunch.

"How come Shiki didn't mention that?" Cynthia asked, once they had left.

"Probably because he only told us what he thought was important. The fact that they used to be Defense Attorneys wasn't very important since it's just part of the work they do as the Dragon Duo." Ash replied, and decided to change the topic, and talked about the upcoming Luonto Collection fashion show Jude was going to host. Whoever won would get to be the endorser for Jude's business, in addition to three free outfits of their own choosing from Jin's and Aquamarine's own wardrobe. Also, he or she would get the chance to work on a photo shoot for _PokéSTYLE_.

"Oh yeah, the other guests are excited. Lance told me they have been talking about it the whole time." Cynthia mentioned.

"Great." Ash grinned, and decided to get into an animated discussion about his favourite soap opera, Passions, with Cynthia. It turned out Cynthia had watched it as well, and continued with their meal.

During the meal, Ash made a mental note to ask Pakura about her law career, and see if he could take Cynthia to a restaurant called A Taste of Faerie, where something about their food tasted magical, which was not describable with words.

"Cynthia, I was wondering if you'd like to go for dessert after this meal." Ash offered, as he munched on the pork buns. "There's this quaint café nearby where they sell the best hot chocolate down there, along with the famous ice cream cookie sandwich."

"As in the ones the girls have been talking about?" Cynthia was now interested. Then again, she is interested with anything related to ice cream.

Ash nodded, and Cynthia grinned, before she said, "Then I want to check it out."

Just then, Ash's Pokéball opened to reveal Manaphy, who hopped onto Cynthia's lap, asking her to feed him. Ash sighed, as Cynthia laughed, and obliged into feeding Manaphy a pork bun, which he enjoyed very much.

'Manaphy sure likes Cynthia a lot.' Ash thought, shaking his head in amusement as he watched the mother-son interaction between the two.

* * *

Rosaline and Grimsley were walking around Einkaufen City, which was one of the best places to shop, hence the reason why everyone was carrying shopping bags. Grimsley's Eevee was on his shoulder and as he had never been there before in their lives (which is understandable, as they never been to the PAL Region until the tournament started), their eyes (Grimsley and Eevee, not Rosaline) were locking onto each and every store window they passed, sometimes stopping in front of one to gaze at the items on display.

**"I want to go in there!"** Eevee pointed his paw at the glass doors of a shop selling what looked like basic Pokémon supplies. Grimsley looked at Rosaline waiting for a translation, and Rosaline gave it to him.

"Can we take a look?" Grimsley asked, wanting to keep his Eevee happy. Rosaline nodded and smiled, seeing nothing wrong with it, and besides, she had needed to pick up some supplies for herself and her fellow Elites. With her signal of approval, they walked into the store.

"Wow..." Grimsley was admiring the store, as it definitely had all the basic supplies a Pokémon would need. Similar to Jude's store, the PokéChow was sold in type combinations (but they did not sell different sizes unlike Jude), and it catered to all the different type combinations that a Pokémon could have, even those rare ones. Grimsley had to admit the stores in PAL sold much more items than in the other regional department store, and is most likely in higher quality as well.

Grimsley's Eevee took this chance to hop off his shoulder and make a running start towards the back of the store, much to Grimsley's chagrin and horror.

"What the? Eevee, where are you going? Come back!" Grimsley demanded as he began to chase after his whimsical baby Eevee.

'Maybe giving him that Eevee wasn't a good idea.' Rosaline thought, watching her boyfriend chase after his Eevee. 'They are really energetic in general.'

"Eevee! Get back here!" There were some crashes as Eevee knocked some items over in the process, having escaped to the shelves to dodge Grimsley. Thanks to Grimsley's training, however, he managed to dodge the 'obstacles' made by his Eevee.

Rosaline shook her head as everyone stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the unruly pair. Some of them started whispering as they recognized Grimsley of the Unova Elite Four. A brown blur, which was Grimsley's Eevee, made use of Rosaline's head to get to the top of the shelf, and continued to run.

Rosaline rubbed her head, wincing, and decided it was time for her to step in, and teleported to Eevee's location. Seriously, why did Eevee suddenly decide to run through the store? Her question was answered when she saw Eevee gnawing on a Poképuff plushie.

'Ah, that's why.' Rosaline thought. 'Grimsley's Eevee is addicted to Poképuffs after all. Specifically, Pakura's Poképuffs. That one definitely resembled hers, and they made it into a teething toy.'

As she finished her thoughts, Grimsley had caught up to Eevee and was now holding the plushie in his hand. Eevee had his paws on Grimsley's knees, jumping and trying to reach up to snatch the toy out of his grasp, but was unsuccessful so far.

**"Please, let me have the toy?"** Eevee whined, with a pleading expression on his face.

"No, Eevee, you can't have it." Grimsley replied. "Look at the mess you made." He indicated the knocked over items behind him, and the crowd staring at him.

**"Please?"** Eevee's ears drooped, begging him again.

"Just let him have the toy." Rosaline said, putting her hand on Grimsley's shoulder. "He's just a baby Pokémon after all, and he does need something for entertainment anyway."

"Fine." He turned to the baby Eevee. "You can have it, in one condition. You help me clean up the mess you made, and I'll buy the toy for you to play with."

Eevee's ears perked up, and nodded, and Grimsley nodded back with satisfaction.

'Note to self: Never take those two out to go Pokémon supply shopping with me again.' Rosaline thought, as she grabbed a basket and checked the list of items she needed to pick up. 'I should stock up on the pantry at my Secret Base while I'm outside, and get some art supplies. Oh, and also find time for me to show Tracey my slides.'

* * *

"I finally improved the game stimulation to help practice our abilities! I tested it, and whatever injuries we get in the game won't be reflected on us anymore!" Phillip said excitedly.

"No, not that game!" Rosaline and Jude groaned. Pakura on the other hand shot Phillip a calculating look.

"What game?" Ash asked.

"He designed a game years ago. Based on that survival horror game Five Night's At Freddy's series. Our objective is to destroy all the animatronics before they kill us, using our abilities only." Jude explained. "I hate that game."

"Don't be such a wuss, Jude." Phillip laughed, as he plugged the game console into the TV. The screen lit up, revealing the animatronics who seemed to be staring straight at them with their creepy eyes. This unnerved Ash a little. "Why don't we try the game, and guide Ash?"

"I don't believe he can survive it." Rosaline muttered, as they sat around the game console and placed their hands on it. Ash followed, and put some aura into it, and the room around them disappeared.

Ash found that they were now in a small, compact room. Against the wall was a desk, on top of which sits a few electronic monitoring devices, with various cluttered papers, presumed to be some paperwork. Wires stream up to the ceiling from the monitoring devices. The desk has two drawers, along with a speaker and even a phone. On the desk was also a screen,

"This is the office." Phillip explained to Ash. "When we play this game, one of us usually stays here to use the camera to check for the animatronics, and alert the others of their location if needed. There are also the Hall Lights to help expose the animatronics in the two darkened hallways and can also be used to check if they are still near the two doorways. They are the only way to check the areas right outside the doors, since those spots cannot be viewed from the Monitor.

"The switches for the Hall Lights are under the switches for the doors. Don't use them too much, that'll consume power very fast." Jude shuddered.

"You put limited power?" Ash was incredulous.

"Of course, so that it'll be more challenging. Be careful, though. Even if you don't use anything, the power still runs due to the fan and the active monitor." Phillip smirked.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" Rosaline gave Phillip a look. Phillip shrugged.

"Anyway, we have to take out twelve animatronics in total. When we take out an animatronic, a green light would flash. If one of us gets taken out, the red light would flash." Pakura explained.

"How would we know specifically who on the team is taken out?" Ash asked.

"Simple. The screen would show our pictures. If anyone gets taken out, the picture would fade from colour to grey. If we're not in the office, our head shots would appear in the ceiling, as the ceilings are actually another screen. That way, we'll know who got taken out, and do the elimination from there." Jude replied.

"Well, who should be take office?" Ash enquired.

"We'll draw lots." Phillip took out five sticks. "Who draws the shortest would stay." The shortest stick was held by Jude, much to his horror, as he wouldn't be able to move from his location, making the animatronics easier to attack, and them peeking into the office or just entering like that is scary.

"Well, then, we may as well start moving." Rosaline said. "Don't get killed." With that, everyone except Jude left the office.

Meanwhile, the animatronics are at the Parts &amp; Service room discussing their strategy. There were a total of 12 of them, and some were carrying weapons based on Phillip's design.

_**"They're back."**_ Bonnie said in gibberish. _**"Brought someone new with them." **_

**_"Should we all go for him?"_** Chica licked her lips in anticipation.

**_"No, we'll go for the Sacredy-Cat first. Who knows if the new guy is as powerful as the Ice Girl."_ **Golden Freddy, who was one of the three leaders, replied. He that wasn't her real name, but since Freddy was so stupid, he referred to her as Ice Girl so Freddy can remember. Just as he answered, a clock chimed twelve times, indicating the start of the game.

**_"Come on, let's go."_ **Springtrap said, and everybody set out.

* * *

Rosaline gulped, as she used her fire to illuminate the surroundings. She was keeping an eye out for Mangle and Springtrap, the two animatronics that she feared the most. Ironically, Mangle is scared of her, so whenever they run into each other, they would just turn and run in opposite directions.

No, she can't run away. If she did, and Pakura finds out (Back then, she always does. Rosaline did not know why, until she realized that Pakura is a psychic herself, and a powerful one at that.), Pakura would definitely be annoyed.

The purpose of the game is to confront your fears, and since Rosaline likes to tell that to her so much, then she should face her own fears instead of running away from it, thus labelling her as a hypocrite. Pakura also made it clear that if she wants to act like one, then she should leave the PAL Elite.

She heard footsteps, and turned around to see Golden Freddy. Rosaline shuddered, but got ready to fight, and launched a fireball, which spread all over the room but Golden Freddy jumped up, and revealed he was wielding a mace. Rosaline blocked the swinging spiked ball with her aura, which deflected back to Golden Freddy, who caught it easily.

'I don't like the look in Golden Freddy's face.' Rosaline shuddered, as she used telekinesis to repel Golden Freddy's next attack, and punched Golden Freddy with her fist, which she covered in fire. 'Pakura's right. I am getting rusty. Well, that's what I get for neglecting training.'

* * *

"I don't like this, I don't like this, I don't like this…." Jude chanted, as he looked into the camera, and saw that Rosaline was battling Golden Freddy, but Springtrap was hidden behind her.

"Rosaline, look out! Springtrap is behind you!" Jude shouted in the headset, and Rosaline dodged as Springtrap attacked, fear written in her face, and Jude knew it was because she was face-to-face with her most feared animatronic. Jude, satisfied, looked for the others. Phillip was sneaking behind Balloon Boy, whom he designed to be the location scout. Jude couldn't spot Pakura or Ash, and he assumed they were hiding in the dark. Pakura probably activated her Invisibility. A green light flashed, and Jude knew that Phillip just took out BB.

Jude sighed, and tried the hall lights, only to yelp when he saw Chica staring at him ominously, holding a pistol. He quickly pushed the door button, which slammed into her face. He gulped, as he took a look at the East Hall Corner, and realized she was still lingering there. Jude hated the mangled design the original four animatronics had, it just made them scarier. Why did Phillip have to choose that design?

He gulped, as he pressed the door button to open it, knowing he had to conserve energy, or else the office would be in a blackout, and he wouldn't be able to close the doors or check the monitors, which would leave them vulnerable to the animatronics...well, only him, since he's the one in the office now. He, as part of the team, should help out the others, as it was technically a teamwork game.

Jude saw Toy Chica setting out with her bow and arrow, presumably to find Rosaline, who was the nearest, according to BB before being taken out by Phillip. However, her hand was then sliced off by some invisible force, and a barrage of arrows rained down on her. After that, she was frozen and shattered into pieces.

Just then, there was a green light flash, and Toy Chica's picture turned black and white, indicating she had been taken out. Jude watched as Puppet proceeded to walk stealthily like he was following someone. Jude knew that he saw Pakura, since among the animatronics, Golden Freddy, Springtrap and Puppet can see Pakura even with her Invisibility. He proceeded to warn Pakura, and check the Hall Lights again.

* * *

"Fast." Ash mumbled, realizing Foxy was a blur as they clashed weapons with each other. In fact, the only time he felt worse than this was when he exchanged blows with Pakura. Ash was ready to bet that Pakura was the only one that can exceed Foxy in terms of speed. However, Foxy had slipped on the crystalized floor behind him, and Ash took this chance to slowly melt Foxy with lava, since he was immune to the lava himself, and left him there to look for the other animatronics.

"Ash, Bonnie is behind you." Jude's voice warned him from the CommuniDex.

Ash turned around, and paled when he saw Bonnie. That animatronic had always been following him around, and he found it rather unnerving, especially with the fact that Phillip had chosen the mangled design, which was scarier. Bonnie made some screeching noise, which was horrifying, and leapt at Ash with its sickle.

However, Bonnie soon got distracted by the green light, indicating Foxy was out of the running, and Ash took this chance to attack with his Stone Cubes. Another green light, and Ash saw that Freddy was taken out, probably by Phillip or Pakura, since Rosaline had already been taken out, and Jude was in the Office. Ash surrounded Bonnie with the Stone Cubes and detonated them, causing explosions, but to his surprise, Bonnie took little damage from it.

'Phillip must have designed them to be really sturdy.' Ash thought, as Bonnie started attacking again. 'Like how he did Foxy. This is going to take a while.'

A startled shout reached Ash's ears, and he realized Jude had been taken out.

This is one hard game stimulation.

* * *

Pakura sighed, as she decided to return to the Office. She had just been alerted that Jude and Rosaline had already been taken out by surprise, probably by the animatronics they had feared the most. She checked the power, and cursed as they had only thirty percent left. By now, the animatronics probably knew she was in the Office as Phillip had designed their AI in such a way that when someone else takes Office, they would be alerted immediately.

She knew there were six animatronics left, and decided that Rosaline and Jude definitely needed more training. 'That's what you get for blowing off training for your social life.' Pakura thought, as Phillip short-circuited Toy Bonnie and Toy Chica, and ran towards the end of the corridor. However, Golden Freddy was waiting for him, and Phillip engaged him in combat until the Puppet appeared from the shadows and took him out, but not before Phillip managed to damage his left arm, but it's a fear reflex rather than actual fighting back, since he is most frightened of the Puppet. Pakura face-palmed as Phillip disappeared and a red light flashed.

"Ash, come to the Office immediately. It's only the two of us left." Pakura said. She saw Ash nod via the camera, and made his way to the Office.

"Those three need more training?" Ash asked, as he entered the Office.

"Obviously." Pakura replied dryly. "Four animatronics left, though. We're outnumbered, and for all we know they could have repaired themselves in the Parts &amp; Services Room. We need…" She was cut off when they heard a noise, and they looked at each other.

"I better check it out." Ash said, as he exited the Office before Pakura could stop him.

'Idiot…it's a trap.' Pakura thought, and heard Ash fighting the animatronics. She saw a green light flash, and then a red light, indicating Ash had been taken out, most likely by Golden Freddy or the Puppet, since they are one of the smartest ones, aside from Springtrap. Pakura checked the screen, and saw that she was left with Mangle, Golden Freddy and Toy Freddy. Puppet had already been taken out by Ash.

"Well, Ash lasted pretty long for a first-timer. They must have attacked him all at the same time." Pakura muttered. "But one thing is for sure: Those three need more training, and what kind of friends are you leaving me here all by myself!" She glanced up at the ceiling and glared.

In the living room, the four eliminated players gulped, and inwardly agreed with Pakura and apologized for not being of more use to her. The funny thing was, every time they played this game back then, Pakura had always been the last few targets, probably because she was the biggest threat to them. Now with her Invisibility and her Wind Manipulation out in the open, that just made the other animatronics leave her for last.

Pakura sighed, as she decided to set a trap with her ice, freezing the floor of the hallway, and heard some of them slip, and impale themselves on the icicles. She heard them struggling to make their way to the Office, and when Golden Freddy made it, she revealed that she could manipulate wind, much to his shock, as he was cut up in pieces, since he was already roughed up by Ash. A green light flashed, indicating Golden Freddy was taken out.

'I need to win this.' Pakura thought, checking the cameras and saw that two were impaled in the arms and legs and trying to make their way to the Office. She left the Office, using her Invisibility, and used her Flight ability to avoid the ice on the ground. Pakura attached her aura threads to Mangle, and manipulated her movements to attack Toy Freddy, and Toy Freddy was shouting something, probably to ask why she was suddenly attacking him (since she could not understand gibberish which was the language they are speaking), as he struggled to block her movements. Mangle said something back to him, and Toy Freddy had no choice but to impale her in the chest and destroy her wirings, which successfully took her out.

Pakura then send an aura dragon towards Toy Freddy, and he looked around for her, but couldn't see her, as he attempted to dodge the aura dragon, but it seemed to be following his every move, and his movements are slowed by the icicles in his right foot and left arm. The aura dragon hit Toy Freddy, whose legs were completely obliterated, and Pakura took this chance to finish Toy Freddy off with Earthquake Generation, where stones from the ceiling fell and crushed Toy Freddy.

"Alright!" The other four cheered, as Pakura reappeared back in the living room.

"Your guys suck." Pakura muttered, and stormed off into her room. The others wondered why, until Jude realized it was almost time for his prep for the Luonto Collection fashion show, and hastily left, while the others unplugged the game stimulation and returned to their rooms to freshen up and change.

* * *

Somewhere in Meteor City, the five Bosses have made an abandoned castle their base of operations. It used to be one of the Prince/Princess' old family home, as one of them were born in an aristocrat family, much like the former Dragon Prince Shiki, but was abandoned after their line died out as the younger generation of the family refused to have children of their own to continue the bloodline, and it eventually died out.

Giovanni had gathered the scouts' information, and was currently giving the others a virtual tour of the region, its interior and fortifications, and recounts of the failed attempts to seize it. He also told them how Hunter J never contacted them, and believed her to be killed.

"Hunter J? Killed?" Cyrus was incredulous. "Are you sure?"

"Apparently, the Hunters that they have are nothing to sneeze at." Maxie said. "After all, they have the power to kill, and the region is rather militarized, each of them with a warrior mind-set. Hunter J apparently ran into the five best protectors, which is the PAL Elite Four and the League Champion."

"It looks to me we need to send in our best subordinates and see if we can acquire the weapon we need." Giovanni said. "You remember what I briefed you on the weapon Team Rocket created?"

"We do. You experimented on some adorable little girl with Pakura Goldstein's DNA, and it was going well until a boy stole her." Archie nodded. "Have you tried getting it back yourself?"

"I have, but every single grunt I sent after turned up dead." Giovanni gritted his teeth. "The boy who stole her is not an ordinary little boy, it seems. When I find out who stole it, he'll wish he'd never cross me."

"You're angry." Ghetsis commented. "It has been like eleven years since it has been taken. What makes you think it wouldn't gain a mind of its own by then?"

"Oh, I have a plan alright. I still have spies alive from the Blackthorn City. Whoever killed the Clan missed out on some, since they were out of town." Giovanni smirked. "According to them, Champion Lance probably has knowledge on the Cursed Child and its current location, but he's refusing to give them any information. I'm going to tell them to try and get Champion Lance alone, and it'll probably surrender if they threaten to kill Lance."

"He's the Leader of the Clan. Are you sure they'd go through with that?" Maxie shot him a look.

"Yes, of course. They are willing to kill the Cursed Child just for being born, if they feel Lance is going against tradition….there goes his life. I am sure Lance wouldn't dare kill his own members, seeing they are depleted as it is. We're still in the game."

"What does the weapon look like, anyway?" Archie asked. "Maybe we can keep a lookout for it, and alert you if we see it."

"Well….actually, I lost pictures of her when the boy infiltrated it." Giovanni sighed in frustration. "I only remember it has black hair."

"Most people in the PAL Region have black hair." Cyrus glared at him. "Do you remember her eye colour?"

"No….it always keeps its head down." Giovanni grinned at the memory. "Not that I care, as long as it obeys me and does whatever I wish it to."

'Idiot…' Cyrus thought. 'If you cannot remember her eye colour, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.'

"I have been looking for it for years, but alas, sometimes, other duties distracted me. But now, with all these aside, I can focus on looking for it."

"What's your next move, then?" Archie asked. "For the retrieval of the weapon."

"Since it seems to me that the PAL Elites know where it is, I'm going to send our subordinates after the people they care about, and bring them back to us. Of course, if they want them back, they'd have to bring the weapon along with them, and I'm sure we can come to a negotiation." Giovanni replied. "After all, I'm not unreasonable. All I want is that weapon to use to take over the PAL Region, and that's it."

Unknown to them, a certain Freeze Pokémon tilted its head at the window of the meeting room, wondering what it just heard, before shrugging, and going to look for the certain girl that had healed it.

* * *

"Man, there are so many people." Ash muttered, looking around at the people sitting behind them, as the Elites and their love interests sat themselves at the front row, courtesy of Jude.

"Well, it is a popular event after all, since Jude is hosting it." Rosaline replied, settling herself nicely in the seat. "Jude is a very popular entertainer after all, so the amount of attention it would get is at a whole new level."

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Jude stepped out onto the stage to cheers. "It has been a long wait, and I want you to give all the participants a big welcome today! And I would like to introduce you to the other three judges, Aquamarine, Elesa and Jin!" The crowd clapped when the spotlight fell on the three judges.

"The Luonto Collection takes into account the overall impression of the costumes in terms of fashion sense, accessories and the design of the outfit itself." The stage darkened, and was illuminated by the lights at the side of the stage, giving it a glowing appearance. "Alright, then! Let's get started!" With that, Jude walked to his place at the judges' table, and sat next to Elesa.

"Let's welcome our participants, who would be walking down the runway one at a time!" Jude announced, and the first girl walked down the stage wearing a costume that was apparently designed after a Roserade, and the girl had Roserade use Petal Blizzard to enhance her appearance on stage. Ash saw Jude and the others writing the girl's scores on a piece of paper.

Nothing entertaining happened until someone came out earlier than scheduled, apparently wanting the spotlight to himself. In fact, he pushed the previous girl out of the way and started to pose. Much to Ash's chagrin, he looked a lot like the late Mami, and Tracey had whispered to him that it was Mami, Mari's twin brother. He was wearing some outfit that made it look like he was wearing some rotted vegetable, though he was proclaiming himself as the best contestant there, which was why he needed to come out earlier so the audience can appreciate his beauty.

Jude, having had enough, pressed a button, and Mami was sprayed by dry ice, and it was enough for him to be covered by the white smoke. The audience started laughing at that, and even the stoic Paul had tears of laughter in his eyes at the scene. Ash noted that Jude had held on to the button, which meant Mami would continue to be sprayed by dry ice unless Jude let go of the button.

When Jude finally let go of the button after a minute, it took another minute for the cloud to dissipate, revealing Mami with his hair dye removed, revealing his naturally white hair. Everyone laughed the moment they saw the natural hair colour, and Mami, realizing his hair dye was removed, screamed.

"He must have used those type of hair dye spray that is washable with water." Phillip commented, looking at the washed out Mami without his makeup on. Jude, clearly tired of this, ordered security to throw Mami out and disqualified him, much to the audience's delight.

"Ok, let's continue." Jude coughed, glaring at the flamboyant Mami who was dragged out of the venue, kicking and screaming. The next contestant was a beautiful woman with long black hair and grey eyes that almost looked creepy.

She was wearing a Sylveon-inspired dress, which caught Pakura's attention, complete with ribbons on the wrists and neck and even a headband with a bow that looked like one on a Sylveon's ear. At the side of the dress was a similar bow and ribbons the colour of a Sylveon's feelers.

Everyone was awed as Valerie took the stage, and curtseyed to the audience, before walking back with elegant grace.

"Oh my…" Even Jude was at a loss of words, and he had seen a lot of beautiful things before.

"That dress is cute and really gorgeous." Ash commented. "Especially the pink boots. It's good for casual wear too."

"I feel like just reaching out and tearing that dress right off her back." Pakura added, agreeing with Ash.

'I bet you did.' Lance thought.

'You'd probably tear off a few inches of her flesh with it too.' Cynthia inwardly muttered, as the last participant showed off her dress, which the audience wasn't very impressed by, since Valerie literally outshone them all the moment she went out to the runway.

There was a few minutes where the Judges totalled up the scores

Jude called for all the participants to come out on stage again, and decided to announce the Top Three winners of the Luonto Collection. Not surprisingly, Valerie had won first place, and every cheered as Jude placed a beautiful tiara on her head, which was probably made of platinum, and handed her a bouquet of flowers, which Valerie gratefully accepted.

"And I thank you all for coming, and you can be sure to look forward to the start of Valerie's path to fame!" Jude announced, as Valerie waved to the audience and gave her most dazzling smile. Karen frowned, as Valerie seemed to give Jude a glowing look, and she did not like it one bit when Jude winked back.

Lance, noticing her expression whispered, "I'm sure they are just friends. I mean, Jude had to work with a lot of girls since he's a world-famous supermodel, and most models are female." Just then, he coughed, and Karen asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Lance muttered. The truth is, he felt rather unwell, which was probably from the fact that Pakura repeatedly dunked him into the river once she exited the Legend &amp; Co. Law Offices out of anger, and by the time she went off for training, his clothes were thoroughly soaked, and it also started raining. He only had time to take a quick shower and change into fresh clothes before the event started, and his injuries were not helping him.

Karen checked his forehead, unconvinced, and whispered, "You're running a fever! Why ae you still out here instead of resting?"

"Er…well…" Lance discreetly glanced at Pakura, who was sitting next to him, which did not go unnoticed by Karen. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Pakura wondering, "Do you think I should ask Valerie to design that Sylveon dress and the matching accessories for me?"

* * *

"There she is!" Iris shouted, as she saw Pakura heading to the dressing room to request Valerie to make the Sylveon outfit for her. The traitors had waited for her to show up, knowing as a VIP (or something like that), they anticipated that Pakura would make use of it to hide from the media and her fans, and sure enough, it had paid off.

Before they could reach her, however, they were intercepted by Cynthia herself, wearing Shiki's glasses to make herself look more professional (which worked).

"May I help you?" Cynthia asked, holding a planner, and using her Garchomp to keep them at bay. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pakura enter the dressing room after knocking three times.

"What are you doing, Champion Cynthia?" Brock enquired.

"You see, I am Pakura's personal aide, so I would have to help her maintain her schedule so that she does not bite off more than she can chew in one day." Cynthia explained, as she quickly flipped through the organizer and spinning her pen. Inwardly, she is sniggering at the show she is putting up. "Do you have any business with her? You're interrupting something important."

The others looked at each other. Cynthia was one that commands people, not the other way round. For her to agree to be a personal aide of someone is like asking a Dragon Master to give up training Dragon-type Pokémon for the rest of their lives. So what was she doing managing Pakura's itinerary for her?

"Yes, we have business with her. I want a battle with her." Iris requested. "So do the other Dragon Masters, if you don't mind."

"Yes about that. You must forgive me, since I don't think I can fit you in. The only break times she get to have are her mealtimes, and after 10pm, but that is when she goes to bed. She needs her sleep so that she can function the next morning." Cynthia explained, flipping through the planner quickly and looking at the hourly time slots. "All the other slots are already booked with the tasks she needs to do."

"Couldn't you cancel one for a battle?" Iris persuaded. "Do a favour for me as a friend?"

'Friend?' Cynthia thought angrily. 'We stopped becoming that the moment you betrayed Ash, my boyfriend!', but she merely replied, "Oh no. I was specifically told by the others not to cancel any of her appointments unless something more important comes up. And they put battles outside of the tournament under the 'Not-So-Important' category, I'm afraid."

"Why are battles not important to her?" Cilan frowned.

"Because unlike most Elites, she dislikes battling, and only does it if she has to." Cynthia answered. "Besides, she has other better things to do than to battle all the time. I certainly won't force her to battle if she doesn't want to."

Just as Cilan was about to reply for the benefit of his girlfriend, the door to Jude's dressing room opened, and Ash and his group of friends came out.

"Maybe you could pencil her in. She's in a good mood since Valerie agreed to her request, and Valerie even offered to make other Pokémon inspired outfits for her." Ash said, much to Iris' delight.

"On one condition though: You have to come alone." Phillip added. "Do not bring any of your friends."

"Iris, this may be a trap." May warned when Phillip named the condition, but Iris waved her off, as she was extremely excited that Pakura finally accepted her request for a battle, and did not care for the conditions she made as long as she agreed to battle her.

"So, when and where?" Iris asked eagerly.

"Tomorrow at 5am, at the Battle Arena." Rosaline replied.

"What?" Iris was shocked at the early timing.

"If you want a battle, it has to happen on her schedule, not yours, since she is not the one that wants the battle." Ash warned. "Be grateful she is willing to sacrifice her sleep to battle you. Now take it or leave it."

"I'll take it." Iris answered, and the others nodded.

"Good, now she expects a good fight, so better bring your A Game on." Ash said, and with that, the group left, and Cynthia returned her Garchomp before joining them.

Once they were out of range, Grimsley asked, "Why did she suddenly accept the battle?"

"Because otherwise, she won't be leaving me alone." Pakura replied, appearing at Valerie's door. "I can trounce her in five minutes, no problem…by the way, where's Lance?"

"I forced him to go back to the Tower." Karen replied. "He is not feeling well, and is also running a fever to boot. I offered to take him back, but he said he could go back himself, and forced me to join you guys."

Pakura merely nodded, and Karen couldn't help but think something is off, as Pakura seemed nonchalant about Lance's status. Just then, something blue landed on Pakura's head, and scratched the side of the body with its own talons, causing her to stumble backwards due to the sudden increase of weight on her head, but steadied herself.

"What the?" Ash was surprised, as he realized the blue thing was an Articuno.

"Where did you come from?" Pakura muttered, allowing the bird to land on her arm, and she fed it a Poképuff. Articuno gratefully nibbled on the treat, and its eyes lit up at the delicious taste.

**"I just figured I visit my favourite human. And I got news for you."** Articuno replied.

"Favourite human?" Pakura was puzzled, before remembering. "Wait, you don't happen to be the Articuno that I freed from Hunter J, are you?"

Articuno eagerly nodded, as Ash said, "So, Articuno, you have something to tell us?"

It flew off Pakura's arm, perching on a railing, before it said,** "I sure do." **

Pakura opened her mouth to say something, but her Pokégear rang again. Sighing, she excused herself, and went to find a place where she could have her phone conversation in private and have the best reception at the same time.

"Ok, one of you do your thing." Jude said, looking at Rosaline and Ash.

Ash shrugged, and approached the Articuno, and placed his hand on his forehead. He could do without the contact, but he'd have better control of his psychic powers that way. He read the memory of what the Articuno overheard during a secret meeting, and his anger spiked when he realized they had infiltrated the region and are now making plans in Meteor City.

"What's wrong, Ash?" Cynthia was concerned, as Ash's face significantly darkened when he read the memories.

Ash took a deep breath, and calmly told the others of the plan, and they gasped. Some, like Jude, even looked angry at the way they addressed Pakura.

"It looks like they are going to target those around us." Ash said grimly. "For example, our family." He shot Phillip a meaningful look.

"What are we going to do?" Grimsley asked, worried for his girlfriend.

"I suppose we can seek Paku's help for this. After all, she has tons of properties she acquired from her victims. We can hide them there, and assign our departmental members the mission to guard the families." Phillip replied. "Meanwhile, all of you would need more training so you can fight them off if needed."

"Sounds like a plan." Ash agreed. "Let's get back to the Tower to discuss the details."

* * *

Lance sighed, as he found himself going into the Battle Arena, and closeting himself into the VIP Box. It was dark considering no one was inside. Closing the big doors behind him, he collapsed on the ground, no longer finding the energy to go back to the Tower himself. He wondered if he should ask Dragonite to fly him back to his room, but dismissed it as he might throw up if he was on the air in this condition.

He pulled up his sleeves to check on his injuries, as noted grimly that there are discoloration on some of his bruises, which spelt trouble. Some of his bandages are going to need changing as he saw blood seeping through. Then again, he should expect nothing less from the regional's best assassin. Ash even admitted himself that Pakura could have beaten him if not for the fact that he had the ability to take away her powers.

Still, most of her powers came from Shiki, his best friend, and she was definitely abusing her new-found powers. Lance shook his head as he remembered what his best friend had said about the Cursed Child and how the Elders were twisted all those years ago. He finally understood where he was going, and what he had meant.

No, he can't give up just yet. He wanted to make them accountable for what they did to the Dragon Duo, and how they ruined the girl they loved. Just as when he was about to stand up, he heard the right door to the VIP Box open. Lance turned, and much to his horror, half the townspeople Clair had invited were standing there.

"There you are, Lance." A woman said.

"What do you want?" Lance asked.

"We would like to have a word with you." A man replied. "So I heard you have been hanging out with the PAL people, and they know who killed our Clan."

Lance narrowed his eyes. Clair must have mentioned it to them in passing.

"What about it?" Lance said evenly.

"Come on, Lance. I'm sure they must have told you. We implore you to tell us who it is." A second woman requested…no, commanded him. "We need to bring the killer to justice."

Lance held his head with one hand, as he felt dizzy. "No, I can't. I promised them I would not tell."

"Lance, which is more important? Your Clan or your friends?" Another man demanded. We have raised you to the man you are now, and you're choosing a mere promise over our reputation?"

Lance was angry. How dare they guilt trip him into doing their bidding? He wished Pakura had not missed some and killed them all instead. Shiki was right in saying how twisted the people are.

"You know what? I'm sick of it." Lance hissed. "The Clan and their blood purity bullshit. The Cursed Child did not ask to be born, and it was her promiscuous mother who is at fault. Yet all of you push the blame to one little girl, and leave her to Team Rocket, who made her suffer and could have killed her if not for someone's timely rescue. It's your own actions that caused our reputation to go down, and it's also the reason why you lost my respect a long time ago. You want to take revenge? Fine, but you better bring it. Because I know the whole truth, and I know what I want to do with my life. I don't care if I lose my status as heir, I will do whatever was necessary to stick to my values and protect the person I love. Even if it meant going against you…all of you."

With that, Lance walked out through the left door, only to realize that all of them had their Pokémon out. He was about to reach for his Pokéball, but a Dragon Breath caused him to jump backwards in an attempt to dodge. Unfortunately for him, he was at the edge of the stairs, and slipped, falling down the staircase, and he hit his head against the railing. He crumpled to the ground with a pool of blood around his head.

Meanwhile, Pakura finished her call, being in a somewhat good mood as the Articuno had expressed an interest in joining her, which she gladly accepted. She heard an explosion, and frowned as she headed in the direction, and realized it was coming from the Battle Arena. She entered, and widened her eyes in horror when she saw Lance on the ground unconscious and bleeding from the head. She looked up to see the townspeople standing over him, and a scene she had encountered before involving Shiki's death flashed into her head.

She screamed.

**BP: (Questions are underlined, and they are important)**

**Ok, I'm sorry for the long break, but I got ten assignments within two months, and I hardly have time to dawdle, as the time given to me to finish is rather little, and the time gap between the first and second assignments (for each module) were rather short. **

**Also, when I tried to upload my document, it failed, and I was forced to erase an old document so that I can upload the chapter. I don't get why it failed, I mean I'm using the same word doc and they said it was not a doc, I was like: What are you trying to say?**

**Poor Pakura, with everyone demanding her time when she has so little for herself, especially when there are still things the Elites doesn't know about her, since Shiki only said the important parts. **

**Oh, and since Rosaline is mysterypink98's character, she never said what to do with her character (Rosaline is hers, not mine), her fate is up to you readers to decide. While Rosaline will make an appearance in Heartsong Symphony and The Unlikeliest Second Chance at Life, she will not make an appearance in the future Ashura Kurobane fic. Who knows, maybe I'd make mentions of her i the Ashura Kurobane series or something.**

**Yes, like I said, she is no longer helping me with my Fanfiction Project, so what happens to her OC is up to the readers, I guess. I'm sure she won't mind if I add a few more personality traits to her OC. If she has a problem, she can just tell me personally or something, but it's highly unlikely since we are no longer speaking. *shrugs***

**Ok, anyway, I started this new pages in my PAL Series Wikia, where I added TV tropes for the Elites and the story in general. Do help out by adding pages if you can and add the tropes I have missed for the characters. So far, I only did Pakura and Phillip, but feel free to add others as well, or you can help me out with the TV Tropes found in the story in general. **

**About the Heartsong Symphony travelling companion, Pakura won by a mile, so she will be Ash's travelling companion when he explores the PAL Region. **

**In Heartsong Symphony, I would be coming up with a concept called Pokémon Pageants (or PokéPageants for short), which is something like a Pokémon Contest and Pokémon Showcase put together (though it is actually a higher level of Pokémon Contests). This would be where Top Coordinators would compete to see who the best of the best is. **

**Top Coordinators who compete in this competition are called PokéPageant Performers. It is also a very popular event that only occurs in the PAL Region, which is why countless Top Coordinators (whether they are local or from other regions) often like to go there to show off their skills. **

**There are two classes of PokéPageants, Normal and Master. **

**To be able to enter the Normal PokéPageant, one must previously win a Grand Festival, or earn all forty Ribbons in the PAL Region from the Normal Contests and Super Contests (since it isn't easy winning a Grand Festival, so I say both are of equal difficulty). To suffice, they must already earn the title of Top Coordinator before they can participate. **

**In Normal Class PokéPageants, there would be an Appeal Round, where the Trainer and Pokémon perform together for two minutes and this is where they show off their coordination and beautiful dance moves, in addition the Pokémon must execute their combination moves to help enhance the performance in the duration of the performance. **

**Three judges (One of them being Nurse Joy) would then mark a score upon ten, and at the same time, the audience must vote to see if the contestant can move on to the Battle Rounds, as there is a certain score they must hit (maximum score is 30) and a certain number of votes from the audience. **

**If the contestant is able to meet both the score and the vote requirement, they can move on. Otherwise, they would be eliminated. **

**The qualified 32 contestants would then have a Battle Round of five minutes, where they would have to use their Pokémon to battle each other like in Contest Battles and yet they have to make their Pokémon execute the moves like they were in a performance. **

**This is to test the Pokémon's ability to execute their moves with as much grace and elegance as possible. Points would be taken from their opponent depending on how graceful the move was executed, how beautiful the moves were and whether the moves hit their mark or not. Whoever has more points after five minutes is up moves on to the next round. **

**Whoever wins the Normal Class PokéPageant would be granted the title of PokéPageant Princess/Prince and earn the right to enter the Master Class PokéPageant. As proof of their win, they would receive a special golden pass which is their ticket to the Master Class PokéPageant. **

**In the Master Class PokéPageants, the competing PokéPageant Princes/Princesses are divided into pairs and they would get to perform individually with one Pokémon and make their Appeal before the pair would have to battle it out. This time, there are no points system, and the Pokémon would have five minutes on the clock to execute their moves as well as obstruct their opponents' moves. **

**It does not matter whether the Pokémon fainted during the five minutes, as what the competition is looking for is the elegance, beauty and originality of the moves executed. When time is up (or if one Pokémon faints) from either side, the battle ends and the audience would vote as to which team put up a better Appeal and Performance in the battle. Whoever receives the higher number of votes is declared the winner of the pair and advances to the next round, as this time, the entire PAL Region would be the judge.**

**From Semi-Finals onwards, they would have to engage in a Double Battle. To make it more challenging, they must use completely different Pokémon in the Semi Finals and Finals. **

**Whoever wins the Final Rounds would face the current PokéPageant King/Queen in the battle for the title in a triple battle/performance, and whoever gets more votes in that Title Match would earn (or keep) the title of Pageant King/Queen. **

**While there can be many PokéPageant Princes/Princesses, there could only be one PokéPageant King/Queen, similar to a Champion position in a Pokémon League, or the titles of Kalos Queen and PAL Duchess. **

**In Heartsong Symphony, the current PokéPageant Queen is of course, Pakura Ameyuri, who will be Ash's travelling companion who would be aiming for the PAL Duchess title in the story. **

**What do you think of this PokéPageant concept? **

**A: I like it, I think you should put it in.**

**B: Nah, it's too complicated. **

**C: I like the idea, but maybe you could call PokéPageant and the people who compete in it something else. PokéPageant Performer sounds a bit old-fashioned (do suggest what terms I could use, since they are tentative terms)**

**Anyway, for the Ashura Kurobane fic, as of which Eeveelution Ash should have, I would like to announce that so far, Espeon is in the lead with 15 votes, and Sylveon being a close second with 13 votes. Umbreon stands at 12 votes just behind Sylveon. **

**Now, I recently had this idea that the Kurobane couple, Shiki and Amethyst, should both be lawyers. The question is, should I:**

**A: Put both as Defense Attorneys**

**B: Put both as Prosecutors**

**C: One as DA, another as Prosecutor (but if you choose this, better tell me who is the DA and who is the Prosecutor) **

**I'll start writing the Ashura Kurobane fic once I finish the PAL Chronicles or the Dark Chronicles, whichever comes first, alongside Heartsong Symphony and the Unlikeliest Second Chance at Life. Next chapter would be Iris' battle against Pakura, the Final Rounds of the Interregional Contest, the five bosses making their move, and the start of the Top 4, so look forward to those. **

**One more thing: In the next Chapter, should the winner of the Interregional Contest choose to challenge:**

**A: Wallace**

**B: Pakura**

**C: Fantina**

**Hmm…I wonder if Pakura should go back to be a Defense Attorney once everything is over or go on to prosecute people. What do you think? **

**Do favourite, follow and review!**


	21. The start of a crisis: The channeling

**BP: Sorry for not updating this for a while now, but I was really busy with my assignments as usual, so I had to slow down my pace a bit. I would never give up on any of my fanfic stories, not now. Believe me when I say I will complete this, and I am going to do it with or without mysterypink98. Thanks for your words of support, they mean a lot to me. **

**Anyway the A Smart Person had struck again, and this time, this person called themselves the A Guest (or AA Guest), and simply repeated the EXACT same review he or she had said to me. All I have to say is:**

**You don't get tired of throwing me down, do you? I had already made sure the reviews are approved by me before they can even appear. Don't be surprised when your review isn't there, since you obviously don't know how moderating reviews work because you don't have an account. **

**Unless you are fucking blind, I have already posted my reply for your review, and everyone who had read it had seen it already and seen your review. I don't want you criticizing me on what I do unless you have constructive criticism. If you want, your review is posted up in my A/N for one of the chapters for everyone to see. That should be prove I can take criticism. **

**Get a life, won't you, and stop repeating the same things you already said. I am tired of people who keep repeating the same review FIVE times (Yes I received five reviews here which is from this same person), and you repeated yourself twice in some of the reviews. **

**I don't know what you're trying to do, but seriously get the message, but then for someone so thick-headed like you, I doubt this would get into your brain anyway. And if you don't like it, don't read. It's so simple. Why are you so worked up on the fact that I haven't changed my profile description? **

**I already said all I have to say to you (you didn't read, did you), and I'll thank you not to spam my review box with lame insults and leave that to people who can actually give advice. You're such an asshole, and I don't think anyone can tolerate people like you. Have you ever met me in person? No, so who do you think you are, criticizing me based on what I write? You're just a keyboard warrior, whose only weapon is the mean words you write to the others and hurt their feelings. **

**I think the one who should be getting the "boo fucking hoo" (as you quote it) is you. You're also delusional to think you're smart and apparently an A Guest. The A should stand for asshole, since that's what you are. **

**I have had enough of you already. I said what I had to say, and you come to me with FIVE reviews of the same argument (well, you repeated twice in some of the reviews)? Just tells me you are somebody who could not accept that I already made a comeback with your criticism. **

**People like you should never give advice. All you do is hurt someone. **

**Ok, sorry for that rant, the rest of you. I just get tired of this person who repeats their own criticisms. I do take constructive ones, but this person just doesn't give one. And they seem to think they are some A-list Guest and very smart. **

**Alright, there is another thing I would like to address: Why I added the Dragon Duo story in addition, when I could just have let Ash humiliate his former friends. First of all, it was easier for me to write another plot in order to keep the story flow, as when I read those fics with Ash just humiliating the traitors, it was rather short, and I didn't want that. **

**Secondly, since PAL is a whole new region rather than a region Ash had travelled, I figured I think up of a legend for the region as well, similar to how regional Champions are considered living legends and how they played a big role in the running of their region. Of course the current status of legendary people (usually) are either dead or missing, hence the plot of Ash finding out what actually happened to them all those years ago, and why they disappeared, since I like the idea of Ash being close to the legend of the region he is ruling.**

**Anyway, check my author's notes to read about my new ideas of my Fanfic, and some announcements. I also got an offer to make to you readers based on a request for that Ashura Kurobane fic, which I would start once I finish at least one of the two stories I'm working on. **

**Also, I have a big announcement: I recently got a Beta reader for my stories, and it's Core AI! Core AI will be Beta Reading this story and the Dark Chronicles from next chapter onwards. **

The PAL Elites winced as they heard a telepathic scream bounce around in their skulls in the Battle Tower. They covered their ears, and fell to the ground, and the others rushed over to them in concern.

'That scream….I heard it before…' Ash thought, knowing that the scream sounded familiar, and realized that it was the very same scream was heard when Shiki showed them the memory of himself being stabbed in the chest, while Pakura looked on in horror.

"Oh no…Paku!" Jude shouted, as he himself also put two and two together. "Something must have happened. Come on, let's go!" The others nodded, and fled for the stairs, too impatient to press the button and wait for the elevator to arrive. They would have asked Rosaline to teleport them, but Rosaline's psychic power (unlike Pakura or Ash) is limited to only a few people, and what is more, she needed to recharge after each transportation.

Meanwhile, Pakura suddenly stopped screaming, and looked down, her fringe falling forward, shadowing her expression. The townspeople, seeing the action, sensed that danger was coming, and fled for the doors, but they automatically closed, and when they tried to open it, the door would not even budge.

A woman gasped, before she was automatically dissected around the waist, killing her. The others looked on with fear as the top half of her body fell to the ground, and her bottom half teetered for a second before collapsing as well. That was the last thing they registered before they were brutally dismembered by some unseen force. The rest who were not killed yet tremblingly looked at the girl, who was probably the killer.

"L-Let us go." A man stuttered, trying to sound fierce. "You wouldn't want to mess with us. We c-can make your l-life h-h-hell."

"Oh I won't doubt that." Pakura said, malice in her voice. "You already ruined one little girl's life from the beginning, yet you do not feel remorse. Surely you didn't forget the Cursed Child scandal?"

"She w-wasn't part of us." A woman commented, though her fear was evident. "She stained our reputation. She isn't…."

"Isn't human?" Pakura finished softly, and the woman stayed silent. "And yet you still want her in the Clan years later, because of her prestigious reputation. You still don't get that fact that you are the ones that ruined your own reputation by killing Shiki and now attacking Lance." Pakura looked up, and her eyes reminded them of someone from the Underworld.

"The ones who aren't human…." Pakura continued, as she approached the remaining living members. "The ones who are inhumane…..ARE YOU!" With that, she brutally pinned them to the walls with icicles, which made them realize who killed their clan.

"So it was…" Another woman realized, before Pakura tore the others limb by limb with her telekinesis, and brutally crushing their heads. Blood was splattered all over the Battle Arena (the ceiling was not spared either), and it was littered with body parts.

That was the scene the others walked into, and they gasped at the bloody massacre before them.

"Oh…my…" Phillip was at a loss of words. "Paku, what happened?" They found Pakura sitting in the middle of it with her hand on an unconscious Lance's forehead. Though there was blood on his head, Ash could not see any injuries on him, which made him assume she healed him. Grimsley went over to check on Lance, and was surprised to note that his fever was gone.

"What do you think happened?" Pakura replied darkly, her head hung down.

'Must have been a traumatic reminder. She must have walked in on them attacking Lance or something, and it triggered her memory of Shiki's death. Paku must have lashed out at them with her telekinetic powers. I didn't know her telekinesis was that strong.' Ash was studying the way the bodies were dismembered, while the others watched Phillip and Jude try to comfort Pakura. Rosaline went to the public phone to call William down to explain the situation and get someone to clean up the mess without anyone finding out about the massacre tonight.

"Chances are Clair is going to notice that half her people are missing, and ask us." Cynthia commented. "But don't worry, I got you covered." She gave Ash a reassuring squeeze.

Meanwhile, Karen was somewhat shaken at the gruesome scene, and from what the other said, Pakura was the one who did it. Karen was surprised, as she thought Pakura was the typical Ice Queen, but yet she is polite and formal, giving an elegant air about her. However, she did not expect Pakura to be a vicious killer. The others did not seem surprised, which made her wonder what did they not tell her?

Rosaline hung up the phone, and said, "William is on the way. He told us to clear out. I'm going to stay here and explain the situation. You guys take care of those two." She nodded towards a clearly distraught Pakura and an unconscious Lance.

"I'll stay with you." Grimsley offered, and Rosaline nodded her acceptance.

"Alright." Ash replied. "We'll go back first then. Come on, let's go." He gestured towards the group, who silently filed out of the Battle Arena.

* * *

"I cannot clear her entire schedule for tomorrow. The problem is Paku has the Final Round to judge tomorrow, and the dance to go to." Ash sighed, flipping through the planner. "True, I can take over some of the work she has to do, but I want her to rest for the entire day. Not to mention she has a battle at 5am."

"Couldn't you postpone it?" Phillip asked, leaning against the kitchen door. He had forced Pakura to go to the kitchen and bake something, as Pakura had once mentioned that baking was something she does to relax and it was part of her therapy with Shiki. He knew Jude was in there with her, probably going to decorate whatever she bakes.

"Do you think Iris would agree? Pakura could be bleeding out from the eyes and Iris would still expect her to show up for battle." Cynthia snorted. "She's that selfish. I mean, haven't you seen her pestering Pakura for a battle these past few days?"

"Knowing Iris, she'd probably make Paku bet on something during the battle. I bet she'll make Pakura free Misty or at least a retrial with a real Defense Attorney, since they know she's a former Defense Attorney." Ash gritted his teeth.

"She was?" Phillip and Jasmine asked in unison.

"Yes she was, I'll explain later." Ash muttered. "Looks like she still has to go. I'll give her Pokémon a signal or something to fight by themselves if Paku really can't give the commands."

"**Or Sylveon and Espeon can do it." **Pikachu added.

Ash nodded. "That's true." Just then, the door to a spare room opened and Karen came out.

"How's Lance?" Cynthia asked.

"Still unconscious, but in a much better condition than the last time I saw him." Karen frowned. "How did his fever go down so fast? And what happened back there?"

The others looked at one another uneasily, and Karen knew they know something about the two matters. She hated how they are keeping things from her, especially when it concerned her own regional Champion.

"It's really complicated to explain things when you don't know the full story." Ash said hesitatingly.

"Well? Then tell me!" Karen folded her arms.

"I'm sorry, it's not in my place to tell." Ash looked away. "Unless Paku gives permission to tell, we cannot say anything."

"Aren't you the Champion? Why are you…?" Karen started, but Cynthia held up a hand before Ash could even reply.

"Because the secret belongs to her. Even I cannot divulge her secrets if she does not wish for anyone else to know. Believe me, us knowing her secret came at a price. We're not exactly in her good graces yet." Cynthia answered.

Unknown to them, the two in the kitchen were also having a conversation on their own.

"No, I'm sorry I didn't warn you somehow." Jude said to Pakura. "From what I see, those people would do whatever it takes to raise their reputation. They probably saw Lance as a traitor after what he said to defend the two of you. He's still trying to protect you like how Shiki did."

"So, it's my fault?" Pakura asked quietly.

"It wasn't your fault." Jude replied curtly. "I thought you didn't care about Lance. But it wasn't until I saw that you killed the entire group of townspeople and healed him that I…" Jude hesitated.

Pakura thought back on the moment. How she became hysterical and lashed out without powers, and running over to Lance, desperately trying to save him like she did Shiki. Only this time, it succeeded. Jude had a quizzical look on his face when he walked into the scene with the others. "That you what?"

"That I knew I misjudged you. That you do love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't know yourself, but I can't blame you since you lost your fiancé. But anyone paying attention could see how much you care for him." Jude answered gently. "It's nothing to be ashamed about. You may be an assassin, but you still have a heart."

"I cannot fix anything, Jude. I'm horrible at them." Pakura took the cake out of the oven and started covering the chocolate cake with vanilla icing. "All I'm good at is destroying."

"The more you can distract yourself, the better." Jude muttered, taking a tube and began decorating the cake. "That's what we're here for. We're here to encourage you to do what you like, and not care who demands for your time, since we will cover for you."

* * *

It seemed like Lance had only shut his eyes for a few minutes, but when he woke up, he saw Ash sitting a couple of feet from his bed. Waiting. Possible for several hours if the clock was any indication. When Ash saw that he was awake, he quickly adjusted the pillows so Lance could sit up comfortably.

"What happened?" Lance asked, noting his fever was gone and he did not feel nauseous or dizzy anymore.

"You fell down the staircase." Ash replied. "You landed on your head, and you bled from there."

"What happened to the people who confronted me?" Lance enquired.

When Ash stayed quiet, Lance felt a sense of dread. Just as he was about to press Ash to answer, Ash replied, "They're all dead. Brutally dismembered."

"Pakura…." Lance whispered. "She did it, didn't she?"

Ash nodded. "She walked in on them pushing you down. You should know what happened next." With that, he walked away, and came back wheeling a cart from the next room. Pikachu and Lucario back up, making way for the rarity, the dazzling creation a white winged Mega Altaria who was glowing a blue-green colour, indicating it was using Heal Bell. There was a Latios frosted in as well, in the midst of performing a Heal Pulse.

Other Dragon Pokémon were also decorated on it, and they were surrounded by flowers. Lance gasped when he saw the cake from the cart, and made his way to the cart to confirm what he knew by sight. As surely as the embroidery stiches on the girls' dresses he saw them try on that morning were made by Aquamarine's hand, the frosted flowers on the cake were done by Jude's hand, and the cake itself was done by Pakura's. Perhaps she did part of the decorating as well. There was the words, "Get Well Soon!" in the middle of the cake.

It may seem like a small thing, but it spoke volumes. The girl he last interacted with, venting her anger on others (especially him) and recently having her memory triggered and going into a mental meltdown, before brutally killing his townspeople, could never have made this. Never have had the focus, kept her hands steady, and baked and frosted something so perfect for him.

"What's happening to her?" Lance asked, looking at Ash.

"Doing that cake was kind of a therapy for her. She was really distraught after tonight, and made the cake under Jude's supervision." Ash explained. "It looked like she did care for you after all. Perhaps she was trying to make you feel the guilt that she felt, and did this to you to make her point. When she saw you lying there, maybe she realized that everything she was doing was based on her own guilt rather than any actual malice toward you."

"She's still guilty over my best friend's death." Lance concluded quietly.

"Why don't you try a slice?" Without waiting for a reply, Ash cut a slice for him, and offered one. Lance accepted, and as usual, the cake was marvellous.

"Where's she?" Lance asked over the cake, as Ash poured some tea for him.

"Making preparations for her match with Iris, I guess. She is due to fight her in two hours after all." Ash replied. "Everyone is staying awake to talk to her and keep her calm. My shift ended ten minutes ago." He sipped his tea, and realized it was drugged.

"Lance! Don't drink the tea!" Ash exclaimed, and Lance looked confused, until he saw Ash collapse.

'Crap…Pakura must have drugged the tea somehow.' Lance thought, as he noticed a note hidden under the plate where the cake was. He picked it up, and opened it with trepidation.

_Hello Lance._

_How are you feeling? No I shouldn't ask that, should I after you have been thrown by those people and nearly got killed (you got a smashed skull by the way) you are probably not fine. I'm sorry about this, I know this is my fault. All I wanted us for you to leave me and find some nice girl and marry her or something (but it won't be me, that's for sure), because somehow I know you deserve this. _

_I guess I chose to cross the line this past few days because I feared you'd leave me just like my family, Shiki, and my Elites should I ever fall for you. That is also probably why I'm trying to push you away. _

_I suppose I feared for your life since you're an amateur (at least compared to Shiki and the rest of us) and I was wondering how you could protect yourself and your Pokémon when the time comes. Shiki was great at combat and yet he died. _

_I suppose I already ruined your life killing your clan that is your family, and even placed an eternal blizzard, and physically and mentally abused you during our "relationship". Yet you still lied to the others as of how you got you injuries. _

_Don't worry. You don't have to protect me anymore. I'll be turning myself in soon. _

_P.S: Just burn this note up after you've finished reading, would you? Who cares what I have to say anyway? _

Lance rushed out of the room, and sure enough, everyone was passed out, except Phillip, who was feebly stirring.

"Phillip? What happened?" Lance went over to him.

"You've got to go after her." Phillip whizzed. "She made me burn all the evidence she abused you into one tape with her Mind Control, and took it with her."

Lance widened his eyes, and saw the box of tapes. He grabbed a random one, stuffed it in his pocket, and called out his Dragonite. If he was right, he knew where she was headed to.

* * *

Lance arrived outside William's office just in time to hear William reluctantly say, "Fine. Pakura Ameyuri, you are under arrest for ten counts of relationship abuse towards Champion Lance. Happy now?"

"Yes sir." Pakura replied, just as Lance threw open the door.

"No! I, Champion Lance, declare that Pakura Ameyuri is innocent on all charges and therefore should not be taken into custody!" Lance screamed at William.

'He shouldn't be here.' Pakura thought, frowning inwardly, but she said, "Ignore him. Here's the decisive evidence. It's really important." She proceeded to take out a tape, and was about to hand it to William, when Lance lunged forward and snatched the tape from her, before putting it in his pocket.

"Give me that tape, Champion Lance." William demanded, holding his hand out. "I want to watch it."

"Ok…" Lance took the tape he had removed, and handed it to William, who inserted the tape, and turned on the TV. The tape Lance took turned out to be a funny video Ash had filmed of the late Mari chasing Iris and Dawn for trying to catch him with a Pokéball, screaming his head off.

"Eww, what the bloody hell is that outfit that...person is wearing? It looks hideous!" William was torn between laughing and cringing, before choosing to do the former. "Well I could do with a laugh. Thanks for the laugh, Princess."

"Err...you're welcome?" Pakura was wondering how her tape ended up playing that footage, as she was sure she took the correct one out. Heck, she got Phillip to make the tape and give it to her while she watched. Normally, William would have had her punished or something for pranking him with a tape when she said it was important, but he seemed to have forgotten. Puzzled, she left William to attend to his duties, and dragged Lance out of there to have a talk.

"What are you doing?" Pakura hissed, once they were outside. Though she was angry, Lance sensed a hint of distress in it. It seemed to him that she had cared about him after all.

"I could ask you the same question." Lance replied. Before Pakura could reply, Lance went on, "I didn't blame you for venting it on me. I only wished you could be rescued sooner. If only I was stronger…I would have done whatever was necessary to stop them. Even if it meant their lives….or mine."

"I still think it's probably best to execute me or something. That way I won't be a threat to the region, and you can live your lives happily." Pakura waved him off, but unnerved at the lengths he would go to help her. This attraction of his is becoming unhealthy. "Lance, back out while you still can, if you don't want to be trapped into the darkness we call the PAL Elite." That was all she could do for now. She was too far gone to be saved, corrupted by her hate, anger and the quest for power to resurrect her fiancé.

"I am not backing out, I made my decision a long time ago, and I'm going to stick to it." Lance stepped closer to her, holding out his hand.

Pakura widened her eyes slightly as a vision of Shiki, in her early days with him, doing and saying something similar to her after being rescued.

'That fiery passion that Shiki had, it looked like his spirit is in him after all. Perhaps I was trying to blame someone for Shiki's death, and Lance was the perfect target, when in actuality, I had blamed myself all along.' Pakura thought. At that moment, she knew Lance would be the type of person to never give up on her, no matter how bad it became. "But why?" She asked.

"My attack was not an accident. I think, no I'm sure they must have noticed." Lance said grimly.

"Noticed what?" Pakura was puzzled.

"My feelings for you." Lance admitted.

"L-Lance…" Pakura was in disbelief. How could he love her? She has nothing to give him. She only thought she had, until reality hit her like a bullet train when Shiki died.

"After spending the past fortnight by your side, learning about the Dragon Duo's history, getting to know you. My feelings towards you…they changed." Lance looked her straight in the eyes. "Listen to me, Pakura. You really are the person Shiki always thought you were. You're not the bad guy here. You were hurt and angry. You're just taking your revenge. It's natural for you to do this, because they ruined you and took away your beloved fiancé and your only friend." He finished this in a firm tone.

"There's nothing I can give you, Champion Lance." Pakura shook her head, and sat down on a chair. She heard Lance approach her, and sit down next to her.

"You don't really need to give for the time being. You should take, because you have given to them for years without taking. It's your turn now." Lance replied patiently. Lance knew she just needed patience and understanding, someone to be there for her no matter what. Shiki had taken that role, and he was hoping he could acquire it as well. "You may say you're dangerous, that you are the one who killed your fiancé and do not deserve happiness, but I say different. You need to trust yourself."

"Champion Lance, I…" Pakura could almost imagine the sincere smile Shiki gave her with his hands full of blood from killing the grunts who came to capture or kill her. It wasn't too hard for her to visualize the blood on Lance's hands, for just the other day during the mission, she watched him deal the finishing blow to Jude's torture victim and he did not seem fazed by the blood splattered on him.

'I don't want to get hurt anymore!' Pakura screamed in her head. 'What if I kill him by accident just by touching him?'

"What is it, Pakura?" Lance asked, noting the fact that she cut off her sentence.

Pakura looked at Lance, and shakily held out a hand. Lance, looking down at the hand, took it, and Pakura noted that it was warm, as opposed to her freezing cold hands. To her surprise, she didn't hurt him with an out of control ability.

"_When you know why you have those powers, that is when you find the willpower to control them." Shiki told her while they were sitting around a fire they built. "If you need to ask for help, never hesitate. It's not something to be ashamed of. Nobody can do everything by themselves." _

"Why do you love me?" Pakura's voice was barely a whisper.

Instead of answering, Lance cupped her face with both hands, keeping her still as he brushed his thumbs over her cheeks, before they somehow got themselves in a lip lock. Lance noted she tasted like strawberry and cream with a hint of cocoa, quite unnatural for a killer, and the taste was sweet and intoxicating.

"Do I really need to have a reason why I love you?" Lance mumbled against her lips.

"H-Help me…" Pakura whispered, as she finally reached her breaking point and broke down.

Lance pulled her into a hug, and replied, "I love you. Of course I will."

* * *

"I don't think we'll need to worry about her." Ash was smiling as he made use of his Wink Blue ability, which required him to cover his right eye, after which he would be able to see the last three people his right eye gazed upon at the same time.

Since Pakura happened to be one of the last three people seen, he could locate her and Lance was apparently with her, and her cry for the first time. When he saw them kiss, he deactivated it, since he felt it was a private moment.

"She'd probably be worn out from the event though. Are you sure we are still sending her out to battle Iris?" Cynthia sounded worried.

"Who says she'd be going?" Ash grinned. "She'll be getting her well-deserved rest."

"What are you talking ab…oh." Cynthia almost forgot about Ash's ability to disguise himself into anyone he wants. "You're going to battle Iris?"

"It's not as if Iris can tell the difference, since Ash actually can mimic her because he spent like five years hanging out with her and she is his best friend. Besides, he did it once and she couldn't tell he was a fake." Jude shrugged.

"Look, I know we are breaking our promise for her to battle Paku, but she had broken our friendship in the most brutal way, so I don't see why I should play fair. As Paku would say, an eye for an eye." Ash clenched his fists. "Besides, we're doing this for Paku's sake. A little lie won't hurt, as long as she gets her Dragon-on-Dragon battle anyway."

"Yeah, all you need to do is use Dragon-type Pokémon. She won't notice anyway, since Paku owns almost all the Dragon Pokémon known." Phillip added.

"Oh, and let your Sylveon and Espeon out to support your deception." Rosaline suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Cynthia was sniggering inside. "We should make preparations though. Namely the clothes and the Pokémon team Ash would use."

A minute later, Ash emerged wearing Pakura's clothes again, and his Sylveon and Espeon were flanking him. Phillip took his Pikachu, while Ash returned Lucario to his Pokéball. Ash also removed his Key Stone from his Mega Glove, as Pakura doesn't have one.

"If Iris asks about this when I use it, I'll just say I accidentally broke my Mega Charm while training." Ash remarked. "But I doubt I'll even need it to take her down. Come on, it's almost five, we should get to the battle."

With that, Ash and his friends went down to the empty Battle Arena, and waited for Iris. Sure enough, Iris arrived a few minutes later alone, and Ash sensed that there are people with her, but it was not her friends. It was…

'So she told the other Dragon users about the battle.' Ash thought. 'This is more troublesome than I thought.'

"I thought you're going to come alone." Iris said, looking at the entourage Ash brought with him.

"I was, but due to some circumstances, I am no longer able to go anywhere alone." Ash replied truthfully. "Now, let me ask, how many Dragon Pokémon do you have with you?"

"Two, actually." Iris replied embarrassedly.

"So you're going to use two Pokémon against me?" Ash raised his eyebrow.

"Well…I was hoping I could use all of my Pokémon against you." Iris answered.

"We agreed on a Dragon-on-Dragon Pokémon battle. We didn't agree on this." Ash shook his head. Really, is Iris' memory that bad?

At the bleachers, Drayden sighed. After all, Pakura did promise a Dragon-on-Dragon, and all other type Pokémon are irrelevant. Why didn't Iris catch more Dragon Pokémon during her time here? Hopefully Pakura is lenient and would still battle her.

'And I'm glad I came down instead of Paku. She won't take this very well, that's for sure.' Ash thought, but he said, "Very well. You can use all your Pokémon. You'll need it anyway."

"Thank you!" Iris smiled, before she said, "Wait, why don't we make the stakes higher. If I win, you give Misty a retrial and be her Defense Attorney and get a Not Guilty verdict for her, and your Dragon Princess title is mine."

'Must have planned this from the beginning, possibly even the moment she found out she was the Dragon Princess.' Ash thought. "Since you want me to bet a lot in this battle, then you should too. Then if I win, you give up taking over Opelucid City's Gym and the other Dragon users don't get a battle with me. It's only fair."

"Hey! Leave us out of this!" Clair interrupted, but was quelled by Ash's glare.

"That's too much." Iris protested, but Ash said, "You asked for it. So either you drop one of your demands, or you battle with both at stake."

Iris thought for a while, before finally saying, "Ok, I'll give up on you being Misty's Defense Attorney and getting that Not Guilty verdict."

'I'm sure the other Dragon users just realized her selfishness. She gave up a chance of acquitting her friend for the prestigious title of Dragon Princess.' Ash smirked as he saw the Dragon Masters exchanging disappointed looks with one another.

"Then I'll drop the fact that the other Dragon Masters can't ask for a battle with me." Ash replied. "Since you have three Pokémon with you, then I'll just use one. Of course, you can switch out. What do you think?"

'A handicap?' Iris thought, suspecting something, but nodded her head.

"Good. Shall we start the battle?" Ash asked, and Iris nodded again. Phillip walked to the place where the referee would stand, and announced, "This would be a three-on-one battle between Trainer Iris and Dragon Princess Pakura. The battle would end when all the Pokémon at either side is unable to battle. Trainers from both sides ready?"

Iris and Ash nodded, and Phillip said, "Alright, send out your first Pokémon."

"Go, Gabite!" Iris sent out the Dragon/Ground Cave Pokémon.

'So her Gible evolved. She must have trained hard for this battle.' Ash thought. "Alright, let's go, Kingdra! Well, Iris, you have the honour of the first move."

"Don't mind if I do. Gabite, start things off with Dragon Claw!"

"Dodge it." Ash commanded, as Kingdra reflexively dodged the Dragon Claw.

"Keep attacking!" Iris ordered, knowing she must keep Kingdra on the defense.

"Just dodge." Ash replied, and watched as Gabite tried to hit Kingdra, but always failed.

"That Kingdra's really fast." Drake commented. "She really trained her Dragon Pokémon well."

"I don't think Iris would be able to hit it." Drayden admitted. "I mean, I already had a hard time with her back in our battle during the tournament." He remembered how Pakura had crushed him without effort during the Top 128.

When Ash finally attacked with a Dragon Breath, it was all over. Gabite was lying on his back with swirls in his eyes.

"Gabite is unable to battle! Trainer Iris, your next Pokémon." Phillip ordered.

* * *

"If this is the result from training with Leader Clair and Leader Drayden, I must question the abilities of the Gym Leaders." Ash snorted, watching Iris' Dragonite fall from a simple Twister. All of Iris' Pokémon got a One-Hit Knockout and Ash didn't even use his full power. "And your definition of a Child Prodigy."

Perhaps he'd make a better Dragon type specialist than any of them, but he had no interest in just specializing in specific types.

"B-But…" Iris stuttered, as the other Dragon Masters were insulted at Ash's remark, but did not say anything as the other Elite members were giving them warning looks.

"It's true, you didn't have anyone teach you how to battle. You learned with your Excadrill, which was still a Drilbur back then, on how to fight on her own as well as learn enough battle skills to defeat 99 trainers. However, you still do not hold a candle to me, because I got the title of Dragon Princess when I was twelve and established the Elite Four alongside the Dragon Prince." Ash shook his head. "Your arrogance became your downfall, Iris. Not to mention, you're selfish."

"I'm not!" Iris denied, but Ash held up his hand. "I think everyone knows what I mean. When I asked you to drop a demand, instead of dropping the fact that you would get Dragon Princess title, you gave up your chance of acquitting Misty with me as her Defense Attorney. You basically chose prestige over your own friend in front of everyone else who is watching. And I wonder why I became a Dragon Master when half of them are hypocrites." As he said this, he gave Clair a meaningful look.

"What do you mean by that?" Clair was miffed at the implication.

"You'll find out in time. Let's go everyone, I can't stand to be in the same room as this vermin any longer. And of course, since you lost, you lose your right to the Opelucid City Gym." He shot Iris a disgusted look, before leaving the place with his entourage. He could use a good sleep.

* * *

"Man, the air conditioner is broken. The others would wake up eventually." Pakura muttered angrily. It was around 9 in the morning and only she was awake, though she was not surprised as Ash went to battle Iris in her stead, and everyone went to watch.

Well, at least she didn't have to deal with Iris and could focus her attention on Lance. She went to the fridge to retrieve some snacks she made, only to stumble back in shock as she saw Eevee inside.

"Eevee...the fridge is for keeping food, not keeping yourself cool." Pakura raised her brow at her Eevee.

"**But I feel so stuffy..."** Eevee whined.

"Did you forget I have Ice Manipulation?" Pakura was exasperated. "If you want I can cool down the room later."

**"No...I just didn't want to trouble you." **Eevee's ears drooped as Pakura took her out of the fridge, and went back to the spare room she had Lance sleep in. Only to see Lance was awake and fanning himself with his hand.

"Why is it so hot in here?" Lance grumbled.

"The air conditioner broke down. I checked, the entire tower is affected." Pakura answered, setting the snacks and juice down. "Besides, with me, you won't have to worry about hot days."

Lance chuckled sheepishly, before Pakura revealed, "I can also control temperatures." With that, she closed the door, and took a deep breath, before cooling the room with her Ice Manipulation, and mimicking the air conditioner's air current with her Wind Manipulation.

"Wow…" Lance was awed by her powers and grinned at the fact that they are cool now.

"I think they have some video games here for us to play. I feel like playing a good game today." Pakura muttered, looking into the CD rack, and finding the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 boxart. "Hmm, that's the new game that just came out recently. I better read the character guide first."

She extracted the book that had the information on all the playable characters, and proceeded to read about them, while Lance went to read the back of the boxart.

* * *

"Oh Arceus, it's hot out here!" Phillip complained. It was so hot even Cynthia took out her coat and their breakfast wasn't very appetizing with the heat and all. He looked at Ash and Rosaline, the only ones who were not fazed by the heat. "How come you two are not affected?"

"Probably because of our abilities?" Rosaline shrugged. "Speaking of which, isn't Pakura supposed to be awake by now?"

"Let me check." Jude went to the room Pakura was in, and felt a slight cold current at his feet. "What the? I think she just cooled down the room with her Ice Manipulation. No wonder she doesn't want to come out."

"Paku!" Ash called, standing up and making his way outside the room.

"What?" Pakura sounded exasperated.

"Do you mind letting us in the room?" Ash asked.

"Why?" Pakura sounded bewildered.

"The boys are freaking out over the heat." Cynthia replied. "And so am I, actually."

"Yeah, Ash and I are fine with the heat...but not Jude and Phillip." Rosaline added. "Oh, and don't forget Grimsley and Jasmine." She looked at Grimsley, who was missing his scarf and coat for once.

"Alright, but you guys better shut up and don't spoil anything." Pakura finally answered, before opening the door to let them in. Only to step aside as Jude burst in, and sighed in relief at the cold air.

"Geez you need to be a little more tolerant of the heat you know." Ash gave Jude a look as the others walked in, and Cynthia closed the door behind them.

"We might as well order breakfast here." Jasmine suggested, and the others nodded.

"At least we have Paku in times like this." Cynthia nodded.

"Hey! Are you playing the new game that came out recently?" Phillip spotted Pakura with a controller playing the Final Stage against Galactus with her three characters, Phoenix Wright, Felicia and Morrigan.

"This game is good for my hand-eye coordination." Pakura explained. "And I feel like enjoying a good game today."

"I wonder what new characters they have since the last game, Marvel vs. Capcom 3." Jude grinned, as he watched Phoenix Wright activating his Turnabout mode.

"By the way, Jude." Ash asked out of curiosity while reading the Character Guide. "If it was the end of the world and you had to repopulate the planet but you could only choose one life mate, who would it be, X-23 or Phoenix?"

"You're weird for thinking something like that, Ash." Jude replied. "But I'll choose X-23, I guess. I definitely don't want my girl to suddenly go Dark Phoenix on me."

"Erm…." Rosaline looked at Pakura, which Jude said, "That's a different matter."

"Ok, Rosaline, so if you have to choose between Deadpool and Phoenix Wright, who would you choose?" Jude asked, as Pakura finally won against Galactus with Phoenix Wright, and she put down the controller.

"Well, on one hand, Deadpool is really funny, but on the other hand, Phoenix is a definite nice guy….I guess Phoenix Wright then." Rosaline concluded, sighing. "Deadpool's humour can be destructive."

Some of them turned out the conversation in favour for watching Phillip play the game, though they did perk up when it was their turn to answer the question. Some did not know who the characters are, however, and had to check the Character Guide before making a decision.

"So, Ash, Morrigan or Chun-Li?" Rosaline asked Ash.

"I can't resist a girl who is sexy and yet badass. So I choose Morrigan." Ash answered, as he started on the snacks Pakura had brought beforehand.

"Same here. I can't resist a guy with a sword." Pakura looked up from watching Phillip.

"That's because Shiki's main weapon was a sword." Ash whispered to Lance.

"Oh." Lance said. He should have known.

"Then…who would you choose?" Cynthia asked. "Dante or Vergil?" As far as she knew, those two used a sword as their main, or at least one of their weapons.

"They're identical twins." Pakura deadpanned.

"But completely different in terms of personality." Jasmine pointed out.

"Well, I do like my guys mature and smart as well…and level-headed." Pakura trailed off thoughtfully. "I guess Vergil would be the logical choice, since he sounds like the smarter twin. On the other hand, Dante is the nice guy and passionate about his job, and protects what he thinks is right, and I do like guys like that too."

'You just basically described Shiki's traits in both of them!' Ash thought, giving her a "What the hell?" look.

"Oh well, I guess I'll choose Vergil." Pakura concluded, shrugging. "I do like guys that dominate. He seemed to be that type." That last comment stunned everyone, as they thought she would choose to dominate in a relationship.

"I reckon you can give Vergil a run for his money in terms of swordsmanship." Jasmine commented, as she had seen Pakura wield a sword, and she was nothing short of graceful and deadly. In fact, during training, she blocked Rosaline's fire attacks by using a sword alone and deflect it back to her.

"Nah, I am not as good as Shiki. After all, he was the one who taught me how to use one. You should see how his opponents doesn't realize he had sliced their heads until one second later, and it was too late when they realized since their heads would be off their bodies." Pakura settled back on the pillows, apparently reminiscing on the times where Shiki would protect her with his sword.

Meanwhile, unknown to them, Bruno snuck up the twelfth floor to look for Lance, who he hadn't seen for a few days. When he was listening for sounds to see which room he might be in, he felt cold air, much to his surprise.

'Oh wow! Finally, some cold air.' Bruno thought. 'Why aren't they sharing?' He heard Lance's laugh, and knew he was inside. However, he was more concerned about the fact that the PAL Elites had access to cold air and did not share! With that, he went to tell the others about the mysterious cool air in the room.

"I don't know...I mean do you think they, especially Pakura, would allow us? Especially when we're banned from this floor?" Lucian asked, as everyone gathered at the twelfth floor. "I mean, by the looks of it, it's probably Pakura whose room is with the cold air. She isn't even friendly to her own Elites, do you think she would even give us consideration?"

However, some were not listening, and proceeded to knock on the door.

Phillip paused the game against Jasmine and frowned. "Are you expecting anyone Paku?" He asked.

Pakura shook her head, and Rosaline said, "I'll check who it is." Rosaline scanned the minds of those outside, and whispered, "It's all of them. The regional Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions. It looks like they found out about our cool room and wants to come inside."

"Should we let them in?" Jude asked. Ash was worried as he did not have his hood at the moment, and letting them in would mean his identity is exposed. On the other hand, perhaps they would side with him once he reveals his story.

"Just let them. What's the harm?" Cynthia asked. "Some of my fellow Elites are outside after all."

"We'll try it your way for once." Pakura agreed, much to the surprise of others, as she got up and answered the door.

"Can I help you, Leader Whitney?" Pakura asked Whitney, who is at the front.

"Er…well…." Whitney started stuttering, remembering the crushing defeat at her hands. "I…I mean we were wondering if we…." She shut her mouth as soon as she saw Pakura coldly raise her brow.

"Why didn't you just spit it out? I am not going to bite, you know." Pakura drawled.

"I….I mean, we, could we spend the day in your room, considering the air conditioning was bust and it's hot out here…?" Whitney gulped as Pakura shot her a calculating look.

"That wasn't too hard, was it?" Pakura managed a small smile. "But alright, come in."

"Really?" Whitney was surprised, and the others were exchanging surprised but happy looks.

Pakura nodded, and stepped aside to let them in, and they filed in. Luckily, Pakura had prepared the connecting room to accommodate all of them.

"I didn't expect everyone to come up." Lance commented, looking at everyone who was relaxed, just chatting and joking around. Even some of the PAL Elites also joined in the socializing. Some of them were eating the food and drinks ordered from the kitchen, watching videos on the television and even joining them in playing their game, which was switched to Heroes &amp; Heralds mode. Ash still had his back turned to them, so they did not notice anything yet.

"It's really incredible to see everyone come together like this." Caitlin commented. "I know some of us still do not know all of you well." She nodded towards the PAL group. "So I thought it would be helpful if you told your stories to us."

"True, it's important for us to remember how we got here and what we are fighting for." Ash supplied quietly, his back still turned. He could tell everyone was nodding.

"Well, I guess I can start." Ash turned around to face them, much to their shock.

"ASH?" Everyone but Lance, Jasmine, Grimsley, Steven, Wallace and the PAL Elites exclaimed.

"B-But why?" Skyla seemed at a loss for words.

"It's a long story, but it happened like this…"

* * *

"I'm so sorry about May and Max, Ash." Norman apologized, after Ash finished his tale. Some of them looked shocked, while others were angry. Though some thought he was lying, they were immediately convinced when the psychics (namely Will) confirmed the truth.

'No wonder Pakura hated Iris. At least I don't have a hypocrite as the heir to my Gym.' Drayden thought. 'I am going to have a talk with her when this gathering is over.'

"Yeah, and for Cilan too." Cress and Chili said in unison. "He'll get what he deserves." They promised.

"And I'm really sorry about your mother." Lenora said sympathetically.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Jude produced a pitcher of iced cocoa (mixed with a little champagne) Pakura had made, and poured everyone a glass. "Since some of us can't drink, we might as well mix it with a lot of iced cocoa to be fair. Let's toast Ash to his bravery of never giving up on his dream!"

When Jude finished pouring, Cynthia raised her glass. "To Ash."

Everyone raised their glass and toasted him. Ash kept it together well, but anyone could tell he was touched by the gesture. Ash looked at Jude, and nodded his thanks.

"I really don't have a story to share, considering I am the only one with a normal background." Rosaline smiled sheepishly.

"Hence why you take your life for granted." Pakura said cuttingly, and Rosaline became embarrassed. Before anyone can reply, Phillip said, "I'll go next."

Phillip kept his story quick, about how he was bullied and neglected by his parents in favour of his complacent brother, who was a social butterfly back in Mauville City, much to Wattson's surprise as he did not know that Phillip was originally from his city. He also told them about them coming to the region to talk to him, only to be rebuffed and it took them nearly dying while trying to protect him from Hunter J for him to forgive them.

"To Phillip's family." This time, it was Ash leading the toast. Everyone raised their glasses again and they drank to the bravery of Phillip's family.

Jude went next, and told them the reason why he distrusted the opposite gender, a trait which most of them noticed over the time they had stayed in the region. It was a chilling story to those who have heard it for the first time. Having your ex-girlfriend who only wanted you for your money and your position is bad enough, but being used and then thrown under the bus is another.

Jude didn't even bother to omit the fact that he accidentally killed the police that she sicced on him. He also told them about how the Dragon Duo came along and took him in and helped get his life back on track.

"I merely offered him a chance. He got his life back by himself." Pakura shrugged, when everyone looked at her, since they know that she is part of the Dragon Duo.

"And to you, Jude, for never giving up even when times were bad." Ash raised his glass, and everyone drank.

"Your turn, Paku." Jude grinned. "You share your story."

"It's a long story, though." Pakura frowned.

"We don't have to share if you're not ready." Ash assured her, but Pakura said, "No, they need to know so they can teach the future generation."

"Well said!" Tate and Liza said in unison.

"Let's see….I guess I can start by saying I was originally from Blackthorn City." Pakura muttered.

This struck the Dragon Masters as news, and Clair was shocked. 'Why did she leave Blackthorn?' Clair thought.

Pakura then told them about being the Cursed Child of Blackthorn City, and abused by her parent s as soon as she was born, before eventually given away to Team Rocket to become a weapon, experimented on and harshly trained at a very early age. Many were kind of stunned at the knowledge, and some looked like they were about to cry. Some of them were shooting Lance and Clair looks, as if to ask why they didn't know about it.

It was a really bitter story, until Shiki came along and rescued her, where he gave her an Egg, which hatched into an Eevee and became her Sylveon, and how they became the Dragon Duo and how it fell when she went after her biological family and Shiki was forced to follow her, where he got killed.

Whitney started crying for her, and Pakura put her arm around her, thanking her for showing what she could not express. She also decided to help Whitney refill her glass, and Whitney hiccoughed, trying to stop her tears.

"So Shiki was cursed to death?" Aaron interrupted the story, and it was followed by the loudest silence anyone has ever heard, as everyone looked at Aaron in shock. Pakura dropped the jug of juice she was holding, and the jug shattered into pieces on the ground. The juice splattered on the ground, and stained the carpeted floor.

"Excuse me for a moment." Pakura replied icily, before leaving the room.

Ash went over to Aaron and slapped him hard. Lance followed and backhanded him, before shouting, "Fuck you Aaron!" and leaving the room to go after Pakura.

Pakura's Sylveon and Espeon attacked with a Shadow Ball and Swift respectively, before yipping angrily and going after their owner. Skitty also attacked with a Double Slap, and ran after Espeon and Sylveon.

Even the PAL Elites went to attack him, with Jude punching him in the gut, Rosaline kicking him in the stomach, and Phillip electrocuting him.

'So they do have powers.' Everyone thought, looking at Phillip's electrical powers. Meanwhile, Jude made use of his Water Manipulation to remove the liquid on the carpet, and Candice decided to help him out with a few rags.

"How could you say such an insensitive thing?" Cynthia was angry at her own Elite, as everyone else also tore into Aaron or hit him. In fact, even Caitlin and Sabrina used their psychic powers to harm him.

"You better apologise to her or else I'll tell your parents that you spoke disrespectfully of the dead!" Norman threatened, his dad instincts kicking in.

"The boy's already dead and you still disrespect him. How dare you." Agatha looked disgusted.

"Yeah, how could you hurt a lady's feelings?" Marshal cracked his knuckles.

"She? A lady?" Aaron wiped the blood from his mouth, only to get kicked where the sun doesn't shine, courtesy of Whitney. Aaron rolled on the floor, wincing in pain.

* * *

"Well, since she isn't here, I'll tell the rest of the story." Ash sighed, glaring at Aaron who was banished into a corner. He told about Shiki giving her his powers, her plan to resurrect Shiki via a forbidden technique which she gained access to after she took back her tiara, and how Rosaline only came to know about her region by following her around and just decided to take the last spot like that.

And then there was the horrible manager who forced her to cut off all ties with her Elites and sold her, though she was cunning and abused her abilities to she could profit from it without having to actually pleasure her clients. He also made her take princess lessons where her teacher abused her there.

That was where he came in, and was taken in by her and he took the Elite challenge, where he got the Champion position, but she was punished for it because she lost. Since the thing he destroyed as punishment was her favourite music box, she tortured him to death.

Everyone guessed it was not super happy, but the way Ash told it made Pakura seem heroic, which she probably is. Taking in Phillip and Jude and giving them a chance to make their mark in the world, and letting Ash have a place to stay and train, even taking her loss against him very well even if it meant punishment later.

"She really is a hero." Roxanne commented. "To go through all these, and yet still change your lives for the better."

"That's why she is the regional Princess." Phillip smiled. "I think we'll wait for her to return before we continue. After all, it's technically thanks to her we get to be all together today."

An hour later, the door opened, and Pakura walked in with Lance's cape around her, with Lance's arm around her. Though there was no danger of tears, she looked visibly upset. Everyone stared at Aaron, who gave a "What are you expecting me to do?" look.

Will used his psychic power to push Aaron forward, and forced him to bow.

"Apologize, you idiot!" Flint glared. "And mean it!"

"Princess Pakura, I'm sorry for what I said earlier." Aaron sighed. "You didn't deserve it."

The psychics read his mind, and was pleased to find out he was sincere in his apology.

Pakura stayed silent, staring at Aaron's injured body, and whacked him on the head with her paper fan. Everyone winced at the strength Pakura used, though no one really felt sorry for him. In fact, they said, "Ohhh!"

"Ok, apology accepted." Pakura said coldly, holding a hand out to Aaron, who accepted the hand. As soon as he touched her hand, he felt the pain in his body receding, and his bruises started to disappear. After a few seconds, he was as good as new.

"Wow…." Everyone was awestruck.

"Err...thank you." Aaron was checking himself, and was stunned to see he was no longer injured.

"Wait you have healing powers?" Glacia asked.

"Pakura can heal both Pokémon and human out of any wounds, disease and poison. Even if it is incurable by normal standards." Cynthia explained. "However, we'd appreciate it if you don't go spreading it around, lest people try to abuse her ability." The others nodded, promising not to say a word.

"Well, then, let's toast to Pakura and her fallen fiancé, Shiki, who was a brave and great Dragon Prince." Ash raised his glass.

"To the Dragon Duo." Everyone said, and drank.

"To Pakura and her lovely iced cocoa with the dash of champagne." added Erika, earning a laugh out of everyone. Pakura had gone quiet, and everyone knew that it was because Shiki meant a lot to her.

Meanwhile, Clair was standing at a corner, contemplating Pakura's story, before conceding the fact that they were the ones who kicked her out in the first place, so they had no right to even ask her to join their Clan in the first place.

It was news to her, though, that she was the one that everyone called the Cursed Child, and she wasn't surprised at the fact that she hated them now. In fact, look where she was now. Pakura became the current Dragon Princess alongside Shiki, who was the Dragon Prince, and became the Dragon Duo that every Dragon Master dreamt of battling.

No wonder she didn't accept a battle from her, as she knew Clair was from the place she hated so much as a kid. Clair suspected Lance knew of this, and agreed not to tell the identity of the killer to help hurt them back.

'How Shiki like of him.' Clair thought, and she won't deny she was slightly saddened by Shiki's death, and angered that her people would work for Team Rocket and kill one of their own. 'And how ironic, that both members of the Dragon Duo came from our Clan, but left us.'

"Is something wrong, Clair?" Lance appeared next to his cousin.

"Nothing much, Lance." Clair shook her head. "I am beginning to understand her better now. I'm glad she plucked up the courage to tell us about herself." Then, a thought occurred to her. "I just received news that half the townspeople never made it back last night. The others said they were going to talk to you. Have you seen them?"

'You mean those same people that attacked me and Pakura killed?' Lance thought, but said, "No, I never seen them last night. I retired to the twelfth floor after the event Jude hosted because I was tired and just wanted to go to bed."

"I see. Well, perhaps they went back to Blackthorn, seeing that we both already lost the tournament." Clair nodded, as she took a slice of Chocolate Cannoli, and marvelled at the sweet taste.

Lance was stunned at the nonchalant answer, but smiled when he realized Clair is also giving up on the investigation. Finally, she was seeing things his way.

"Who made this?" Clair asked, holding the Chocolate Cannoli.

"Paku did. She's great at baking." Lance grinned, nodding towards the said girl who is currently giving Wallace the recipes for her Poképuffs, and some others were also taking notes on the flavours their Pokémon liked and the steps into making them.

"Maybe I should get to know her." Clair looked thoughtful, as the said girl walked past them to get more iced cocoa.

* * *

"It's been a while since we did anything together." Ash remarked, as the elevator glided down from his floor to the lobby. The air conditioner was finally fixed at 3pm, and everyone had cleaned up the rooms before going back to their floors.

Ash didn't know about that, since he left the penthouse at noon to train up for the Semi-Finals, which would be against Cynthia, and she was no pushover. He went back briefly to change, as his clothes became drty from the training before meeting up with Cynthia.

"Well, I have been here for weeks, but yet I saw little." Cynthia replied. "I'd like to see more of PAL than the training gym and the Battle Tower that I often saw."

"What if Paku suffers from her mental lapse or something? Lance is alone with her after all." Ash sounded worried.

"She'll be fine. That unexpected social gathering did a bit of good to her. She's as happy as I've seen her so far." Cynthia remarked. "You saw her get more acquainted with some others, including Whitney. In fact, I heard she is going to teach some of the others some kickass moves in that Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 game after the Top 4 tomorrow."

"Yeah, most took an immediate liking to her because she is mature and is well-educated in the topics they are talking about and can even say something they don't know about the said topic." Ash nodded.

"What is more, she is very well-mannered, and when she is interacting while doing something she likes, she's great." Cynthia agreed. "Loosen up, Ash. Let's just be a couple enjoying their time together for a couple of hours."

They exited into the afternoon sun and were immediately hit with a wall of noise, people talking, car horns blaring. Cynthia found herself craning her neck upwards, trying to take in the buildings that towered above them.

"Where do you want to go?" Ash asked, smiling.

"That way." Cynthia picked a direction at random. They ended up on the waterfront, where it's much more peaceful than in the city. The people wandering around the shore of Lake Natura in Luonto City were like them- not in a rush to get anywhere. Some of them were sitting down on benches, eating their lunch while enjoying the view of Lake Natura, which was crystalline and beautiful, and had a few boats lazily cutting across its surface.

Cynthia touched his arm gently. "You're frowning."

"Sorry." Ash apologized, forcing a smile. "Just thinking."

"Less of that." Cynthia said with mock sternness. "We're out on a date."

Ash was about to grin and make another remark, when something pale gold adorned with four colours glowing in the forest caught his eye. Ash decided to check out what it was, with Cynthia following him, frowning.

When Ash made it to the clearing, his jaw dropped when he saw a blue and black, quadrupedal, stag-like cervine Pokémon with an eight-horned set of antlers extending out from its head, four on each side. The source of the pale gold with the four colours were from its antlers.

"Xerneas…" Ash whispered.

"**Hello, Chosen One." **Xerneas said calmly, not fazed that it was found. **"Nice seeing you in person. How about a battle?"**

"A battle? Now?" Ash was unsure.

"**I have been watching you for a while now." **Xerneas walked around him and Cynthia. **"I may not be the battling type, but you seem to be a worthy opponent. If you win, you can catch me."**

"Very well, then." Ash took out a Pokéball. "Greninja, lend me your aura!"

When his shiny Greninja came out, and stood at attention, Ash said, "Xerneas, you may have the first move."

"**Alright." **Xerneas said, before firing a Moonblast.

"Use Bounce to dodge!" Ash cried out, and Greninja jumped out of the way. Ash watched as the Moonblast destroyed a tree behind him.

'Oh boy, this Moonblast is as bad as the ones fired by Paku's Pokémon.' Ash thought. 'And Xerneas didn't even have training.' Greninja aimed his Bounce at Xerneas, who got ready to fire an Aurora Beam.

"Hydro Pump!" Ash commanded, and the two attacks clashed. Xerneas took this chance to attack with Close Combat, which hit Greninja pretty badly, considering the Close Combat was super effective.

"Are you alright, Greninja?" Ash asked, and Greninja nodded. "Well, then, Double Team, followed by Water Shuriken!" Xerneas looked around to try and tell from the copies on the location of the real Greninja, before deciding to attack them all with Thunder.

The copies dissipated, but Greninja emerged unharmed, and attacked with Water Shuriken, which hit Xerneas in the face. Xerneas stumbled back, and Greninja attacked with an Aerial Ace.

Xerneas retaliated with a Hyper Voice, which made Greninja cover his ears, and a chance for Xerneas to attack with another Moonblast. Greninja hit the tree, and slid down.

"Greninja!" Ash cried out. Greninja slowly got up, and Ash turned to Xerneas.

"You underestimated us. Both of us will get even stronger!" Ash and Greninja's moves synched, and Greninja was suddenly covered in a water veil. Its hair also resembled Ash's and some parts of him looked like the colour scheme of Ash's current outfit. Cynthia and Xerneas were surprised at the transformation.

"Let's go, Greninja!" Ash cried out. Greninja nodded, and Ash called for a Gunk Shot, which damaged and poisoned Xerneas. Xerneas was significantly slowed down by the attack, and its health was slowly draining, and Ash then called out for a Grass Knot.

Since Xerneas is a rather heavy Pokémon, it took a lot of damage. However, it was not about to give up, and hit Greninja with a Dazzling Gleam, and Ash winced as his stomach felt a surge of pain, which was the exact same spot Greninja was hit.

"Scald, quickly!" Ash said. Greninja fired a powerful Scald at Xerneas, who fell to the ground, tired. Seeing his opportunity, he threw a Luxury Ball at Xerneas. The ball shook once, twice, before it locked.

"Alright! I caught a Xerneas! I can't wait to tell Pikachu and the others!" Ash grinned. "Please bear with me from now on, Xerneas." The Luxury Ball shook up and down, as if it was nodding. Just then, Greninja returned back to normal, and both he and Ash fell to the ground, panting.

"What was that?" Cynthia was puzzled and surprised at Greninja's transformation.

"Come on, let's continue our date once we get Xerneas to the Pokémon Center." Ash suggested, ignoring his tired state. He could discover about that transformation later.

* * *

Jude sighed, as he waited for Valerie to show up. After she had won the contest the other day, she had arranged with him to come by his store to pose for some publicity photos, since he was the sponsor of the event. She said she'd show up at four on the dot after she had delivered the outfits she designed for Pakura.

Sure enough, when the minute hand reached twelve and the hour hand was on four, Valerie came in, and stepped on the A-B-C alphabet carpet.

"Hey." Jude said, as he stepped around the cash register. "How did it go?"

"Great." Valerie replied. "Princess Pakura was willing to pay a large sum of money for each of those outfits. It's more than I thought she was willing to pay."

"Good for you." Jude grinned. "Valerie, meet my acquaintance, Karen. Karen, this is Valerie, my colleague. We have worked with each other before in a photo shoot."

Karen, who'd waited around to meet Valerie, despite the fact that she was due for prepping within a few hours and the fact that the said prepping would take a while, especially with Aquamarine needing to tend to five of them, stepped forward and shook Valerie's hand.

"Hi, Valerie, it's nice to meet you." Karen said. "Thanks so much for agreeing to do this. You don't know how much it means to Jude. I mean, to the PAL Elites. I mean, to this store!"

Valerie laughed along with Karen. "It's my pleasure." Valerie replied. "Great to meet you too."

Karen checked the clock, and realized she had to leave soon if she wanted to make it just in time for her prep. Leaving Jude to his devices, she gathered up her designer bag and said goodbye.

"With everyone attending the Final Round of the Interregional Contest, you shouldn't be bothered with too many customers. I know for one Phillip is going to have a quick bite before he prepares for the dance tonight. Don't take too long, and call if you need anything."

"Will do." Jude assured her. And he didn't miss her mouthing, "You're right. She's really pretty." on her way out.

Thank God Valerie was looking at a copy of Poké Chic on the magazine rack at the time and didn't notice.

Jude had his digital camera ready to go, so he wouldn't waste any of Valerie's time. "Well, would you mind if we start by letting you sit in one of the chairs over by the Popular Fiction section?" He asked.

"No problem." Valerie replied, and followed Jude.

Jude got Valerie to sit at one of the leather armchairs, and propped a copy of a hardback edition of _Closed Casket_ by Agatha Christie.

"This'll be good." Jude smiled. "It's like, 'When Valerie is not designing glamorous outfits for extremely famous people or modelling for photo shoots, you can find her relaxing at Vivlía Café.'"

Valerie smiled modestly. "Well, if I actually design for famous people that is."

"Oh, you will." Jude replied, as he started snapping away. "Life your chin up just a little. Great. Besides, Paku definitely counts as famous. And not many people get her as a client."

"Well," Valerie said, smiling a little more broadly. "I'm afraid I might not live up to her standards."

"Don't look down on yourself." Jude encouraged. "You're really amazing. She loved your designs, even felt like just taking the dress off you back in that event."

"Come on." Valerie rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling.

"Come on, yourself," Jude laughed. "You know it's true."

"Oh now." Valerie shook her head. "You're pretty great yourself. I mean, nobody else was able to get back up on their feet as quickly as you did after you lost everything you had in Unova."

"I got lucky. The Dragon Duo chanced upon me." Jude shrugged, snapping away with the camera. "But I got wary of the opposite gender, and its' irritating that she wouldn't leave me alone. Hey, could you cross your legs. Yeah, like that, nice and casual looking."

"Karen?" Valerie had stopped smiling.

"Yeah, Karen. While I'm trying to be nice, I don't really know what she wants with me."

"No way, you don't know?" Valerie was smiling again. "I know she thinks you're great! I can see it in her eyes. I think she has a thing for you!"

"A thing?" Jude forgot about taking pictures for a moment. "Who would like someone like me, I mean, that incident was all over the papers!"

"Yeah, I read the papers too." Now she looked a little uncomfortable. "But that was a long time ago, right? And the Dragon Duo defended you in court and even proved your innocence."

"Yeah." Jude said. "Listen, why don't we take some at the counter, like you're buying something?"

"Sure." Valerie replied and got up, shaking her silky locks behind her.

"It's just," Jude started, swallowing hard. "About that. The court session, I mean." He could tell that it was a lost cause at the case, but yet the Dragon Duo took the case, and won. He realized years later that Shiki himself had used Mind Control to get the Judge and jury on their side, just to get him a complete acquittal, which can risk their careers and popularity if it was exposed. He never really had a friend who would do all this for him just for his exoneration.

"It's so great of them to choose to defend you." Valerie nodded, posing at the counter with one hand on her chin, smiling with an angelic sweetness like some female celebrities on the cover of their first album. Being a model, Jude could tell that she was at ease with the camera. "They really saved you, and I'm glad."

"I know." Jude nodded. "But I was never the same again. Like this thing with Karen…"

"What thing with Karen?" Valerie asked, as Jude took some more pictures.

"This thing between Karen and me-"

"That's what I keep trying to tell you." Valerie cut him off with a laugh. "Karen totally likes you. You should go for it. I mean, sure you're sceptical, but she won't do anything to hurt you. I can tell, you know. You saw how she ditched her Elites just to hang out with you and your friends. If she didn't like you, why would she do that?"

Jude stayed silent, and Valerie knew she won.

"Come on, let's continue with the picture, shall we?" Valerie suggested. "Jude, sometimes you need to follow your heart, and open up to others. I know you're worried that you'll get hurt again, but I could tell she doesn't have the intention to do so. Besides, I think she felt she had made quite a connection with you. Why don't you try it out with her, and see where it takes you?"

Jude reluctantly nodded. "Alright, I'll try, and I guess we'll see where it goes from there." Maybe he should treat it as another adventure. After all, he loves them. "Let's get outside, I want some shots of you posing outside."

* * *

"Oh look." Cynthia said, pointing. Ash was expecting some reporters to be following them, but instead saw a young man behind an ice cream cart selling what was advertised as "Soft Serve Ice Cream." He handed one off to a customer, which was loaded with at least eight scoops one on top of another.

"That's the most monstrous thing I've ever seen." Cynthia commented. "How is she able to balance that?"

"Same way we balance our weapons during training." Ash replied, chuckling. "Do you want one?"

Ash found himself leaning on the tree as Cynthia was looking at the various flavours, deciding what she wanted. They had been standing there for hours, and the salesman was giving them a nervous smile as Cynthia's eyes moved from side to side at the flavours available.

'I forgot about this trait of hers.' Ash thought, groaning. 'I can wait until I die and she would still be unable to decide what flavour she wanted.'

"Excuse me?" The man said. "Have you decided what you would like just yet?"

Everyone behind Cynthia was grumbling at her indecisiveness, but then again, Cynthia was a very popular Champion even among the PALites (a term for people living in the PAL Region). Also, coupling to the fact that she had recently announced that she would be donating to the charities dedicated to abandoned children and Pokémon set up in the PAL Region (she found out about them through Pakura, who was looking to retool her law office into an agency that would also take in unwanted children and Pokémon in addition to defending clients), the grumbling wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Well, every one of them looks great." Cynthia replied.

"Then try them all." The man suggested.

"But where would I put them all?" Cynthia wondered, making the man sweatdrop.

"Cynthia, I can carry them with my telekinesis, just choose a flavour already." Even Ash was getting impatient.

"Alright, then I'll get them all please!" Cynthia ordered, grinning. There were so many flavours that she had to carry them with two cones, but there was Ash using his telekinesis to balance them.

"Thank you." Cynthia licked her ice cream, and the salesman said, "No, thank you." while smiling, though Ash thought it was rather forced since she had caused a huge line to pile up when she was deciding on the flavour.

"Don't eat too much snacks, though." Ash joked. "What if you can't fit into your dress later?"

Cynthia smacked him on the arm playfully, and glared at him mockingly as he laughed.

* * *

"Ugh, why did the Dragon Prince have to go and die before his battle with me?" Iris was frustrated. "I want a battle with him too!" She was lying on her bed, wondering how she could battle the Dragon Prince, talking to her friends through Skype, as they were exploring different parts of the region, but Iris chose to stay in her room.

"Iris, that's enough." Cilan persuaded. "You had your battle, you're satisfied, right?"

"Yeah, besides, that was the dumbest thing ever, Iris." Brock was admonishing Iris for her decision to drop the request for Misty being free. "How could you choose the title over our friend?"

"I chose the title because if I won, I could use the authority to free Misty!" Iris retorted. "But how could the Dragon Prince die before battling me? That is the kicker!"

"Maybe Pakura killed him so she could have more power." May suggested. "You know, I heard in the PAL Region there is a village called Ariolo Village that can be accessed from a train station in Luonto City. There are spirit mediums there that have the ability to communicate with the dead or even channel the dead person in question. Maybe you can summon his spirit to battle him."

"How did you know this?" Iris asked.

"Oh some of my Coordinator acquaintances know a lot about these mystical sort of things, such as the occult. The Dragon Duo is famous in these circles due to their incredible psychic powers. When I spoke to them, they referred me." May replied.

Iris sat up. "Great idea!" Iris grinned. "I'll set up an appointment for the channelling, summon the Dragon Prince that got killed and make him battle me. I think he should also write down and sign the confirmation that Pakura killed him for more power. That way, she'd lose her Princess position for sure."

"But how are you going to do it?" Trip asked. "The Dragon Prince is sure to cover for her."

"Oh, I'm going to use the obedience device I stole while visiting Misty, and the corresponding remote. They were making another set to accommodate another prisoner they caught." Iris said. "Electrocute him until he caves in. And it's the Dragon Prince's word against hers. Why would the dead even lie? Once this happens, I'm sure Misty can be free of her prison, and Dawn can come back." With that, she took out a map and checked the location of Ariolo Village, which was apparently two hours away from train.

Somewhere, a Croagunk sighed. From what he had heard around the region, he knew that there is a reason why they should not deal with supernatural stuff, and it was probably the same reason why Pakura didn't have a spirit medium constantly channel her fiancé to keep her sanity.

And Iris was about to find out. Well, he certainly is not going to warn the PAL Elites this time, as he felt Iris needs to learn it the hard way.

* * *

"Time's up!" Aetna announced, as a Jigglypuff and a Feraligatr stood facing a Glameow and a Mismagius. "Let's see the scores." Everyone turned to look at the scoreboard, and Marina's eyes widened as she realized she was one point behind Zoey.

Her Pink and Wani-Wani lowered their heads in sadness as they were so close, but Marina went over to comfort them, as Zoey and her Pokémon cheered at their victory.

"And the winner of the Interregional Contest is Zoey!" Aetna announced. "We now present the winner with the PAL Ribbon!" A boy walked over with a velvet box containing the Ribbon, while the Judges gave a standing ovation at the spectacular battle, though Pakura did it out of obligation.

"Good job, Zoey. We hope to see even better results from you next time." Aetna said, as she presented the box, and Zoey took the Ribbon from it.

"Thank you." Zoey smiled, as she held the PAL Ribbon up high, as everyone cheered.

"And now, we have a special event for the winner. Tonight at the dance, the winner shall challenge one of the Judges in a Contest Double Battle!" Aetna announced. "Coordinator Zoey, you have the right to choose your opponent for the dance tonight!"

Zoey looked at the three Judges. She wondered who she should challenge, as all of them were very tough. She looked at the one judge who was looking down writing away at her paper, not even paying attention to the proceedings. From what Zoey knew, her strength knows no bounds, evidenced by her battle with Wallace at the opening.

'It would be fun to battle with the Contest Queen. If Wallace did it, I should be able to do it too!' Zoey thought, before announcing, "I choose to challenge Pakura!"

At the sound of her name, Pakura looked up.

"So, you choose Pakura as your opponent tonight?" Aetna asked. "Are you sure?"

Zoey nodded, not about to back down now.

"Very well, then. Don't expect me to easy on you." Pakura said. "After all, I don't have any more secrets to hide."

Zoey knew what she had meant. Now that they knew she was the Dragon Princess, she can freely use her Dragon/Psychic Pokémon in her battles. In fact, the Espeon napping lazily next to her indicated it. "I don't expect you to. Bring it on." Zoey grinned.

* * *

Later, after the contest, Marina sighed, as she looked into a shop that sold various formal clothing, which looked to be of high quality. The other day, she had lost her notebook containing pictures of Lance and she still had not found it. Anyone could have found the notebook and laughed at the fact that she was obsessed with him, despite the rumours that Lance had his eye on a certain Dragon Princess, later revealed to be Pakura.

'What am I going to do?' Marina thought, sighing once more. 'That notebook is important to me.'

"Deciding on an outfit?" A voice asked.

Marina jumped, to see a bespectacled girl wearing a plain white blouse, a dark purple skirt, and she was wearing a cap. She was also carrying a blue and white striped bag that had the logo of a cruise ship on it. An Eevee was sitting on her shoulder.

"No, not really." Marina shook her head.

"You haven't even gone in and look." Pakura sighed. "How could you make a decision from outside?"

"Well, I was thinking of something else, actually." Marina admitted.

"Now, what's with that face?" The girl gently admonished. "I've got a bit of time, so why don't we explore the shop together, and pick out something for you, for a change of mood?"

'This girl…she looks familiar…' Marina thought, as she looked into the girl's amethyst eyes. 'But where have I seen her?'

"I'm Pakunoda, by the way." Pakura introduced herself under an alias.

"Oh, I'm Marina."

"Ok, Marina, get in." With that, Pakura opened the shop door, pushed Marina in, and went in after her.

"I see…you lost your notebook, and it affected your performance a little?" Pakura asked, as Marina tried on a dress with a sparkly top and light pink skirt.

"Yeah." Marina nodded. "It was embarrassing, but it contained pictures of Champion Lance, you know. I really admire him very much. How do I look?" She turned to face Pakura with her arms out, effectively showing the dress in full.

Pakura looked her up and down, and nodded, showing approval. "I'm sure your notebook is there somewhere, waiting for you to find it. Besides, you're the Runner-Up for the Contest. You're better than most Top Coordinators, even with your emotional state being affected a little."

"Yeah…but I want to do better! I want to be like Pakura Ameyuri, the number one Contest Star in the Coordinator field!" She had thought of her as a living legend ever since she first read about her in a magazine when she arrived in PAL, which told her about her Elite Leader status and mentioning her being a Coordinator.

Marina learnt of her past achievements through newspaper clippings of her that was made into a collage at the display glass located at the library. Her admiration just deepened when she beat Wallace in the exhibition match without a problem. She knew Pakura was the youngest Legendary Coordinator, being only 20 years old, though she envied her a little for having Champion Lance's undivided attention.

Pakura paused when she comprehended Marina's words, and sighed, wondering why they want to be like her. "Don't be so gloomy. If you work hard, I'm sure you'd do great. After all, didn't you win a Grand Festival before?"

"How did you know, Pakunoda?" Marina was surprised.

"I'm a fan of contests." Pakura shrugged. "I was watching you earlier after all. You were awesome. I'm sure even Champion Lance would notice, considering he was there."

"He was?" Marina was surprised.

"Yeah, he was in disguise though." Pakura admitted. She didn't really want to say that he was there because he followed her there. "I heard him talk to Wallace about the beautiful performance you two put up tonight, so chin up!" Marina gave a soft smile. Unknown to her Pakura walked up to the shop owner, and flashed her Hunter License to pay for Marina's dress.

"Oh, look, what do we have there?" Pakura pointed to the chair.

Marina turned, and gasped when she realized it was her notebook, which Pakura secretly placed.

"My notebook!" Marina rushed over, and hugged her orange notebook.

"See, I know you'll find it." Pakura gave her a squeeze. "You should go to the dance tonight in the dress, it looks amazing. Remember try to get you and your partner near Lance and his partner, there's a rotation dance, and you might get a dance with him." Marina opened her notebook, only to find a note.

_Don't stop, continue ahead and you'll achieve what you desire. –Pakura. _

'Was that?' Marina turned, only to see Pakura had vanished, and that in her place was a receipt for her dress, indicating she had paid for it. 'Thank you, Pakura.' Marina changed and left the store with her new dress to get ready for the party tonight.

* * *

Ash and Cynthia finally returned to the Battle Tower, their bellies slightly filled with greasy pizza, as both would need to eat a lot more to fill their energy, considering the energy they had spent training with Pokémon and their skills in combat. They also couldn't wait to tell the others about Ash's capture of Xerneas and the new transformation his Greninja had underwent.

However, Jude was standing so close to the elevator that they almost crashed into him when they entered.

Jude didn't move when they came in, and just stood there with his arms crossed over his chest and glared at them. "Where have you two been?"

"Geez." Ash said, inching around Jude's bulk. "How long have you been standing here waiting for us? Don't you get tired?"

"I have my fair share when I'm taking the night watch for Paku." Jude retorted.

"We just went out for a bit." Cynthia explained. "We didn't notice the time. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." Jude replied, sighing. "But you're going to be late for the party, and everyone is waiting for you."

"Oh crap!" Ash almost forgot about the party happening tonight.

"Yup, oh crap, alright." Jude smirked. "I already collected my tuxedo and I'll be changing now." With that, he left for his room.

"We'll be there!" Cynthia replied. "Come on, Ash, we need to go!"

"Go what?" Despite his improved intelligence over the years, Ash was still a little slow in comprehending things.

"Go to Aquamarine's Style and get our outfits, of course!" Cynthia said, waving her hands in frustration. "I'm not missing that party!"

"Wait, Cynthia…"

"Come on!"

Ash only had time to take off his hood and disguise himself as a dark blue haired boy with green eyes before Cynthia dragged him to the elevator by his wrist.

* * *

Everyone was standing in the ballroom in circles chatting happily after having registered the pairings to the receptionists outside, mainly about the topics of their dresses and tuxedos. Ash tugged at his bowtie uncomfortably and ran a hand through his hair. Cynthia chuckled at the gesture. Rosaline was showing off her dress to Grimsley by twirling, who was watching in awe.

Ash smiled ruefully at the action as he could almost hear Pakura's voice saying "Show-off!" with a sneer to Rosaline. He looked around the banquet room, where the ceiling has been transformed to look like the evening sky, which was probably based on the invention Phillip made years ago. There is also a DJ manning the music station and there are couches around to sit and rest around the room and a large tiled area that serves as a dance floor. The banquet room was also decorated in sparkling pink and blue lights and confetti was raining down on them.

"Well, you do have taste, Red. Looks like we underestimated you." Ash looked up, only to see Gary and Paul grinning at him. Ash laughed to see that they were in tuxedos, and were currently escorting Zoey and Princess Salvia respectively.

"How did Princess Salvia say yes to someone like you?" Ash joked to Paul, who glared.

"Shut up. I have my charms." Paul deadpanned. That led their dates to laugh at Paul.

"In a way, he does." Princess Salvia nodded. "So who's your date for tonight, Red?"

Ash jerked his thumb to Cynthia, who was chatting with Jude and Karen.

"Lucky! You get the regional Champion!" Princess Salvia was awed. "I heard she never agrees to be escorted to dances or social parties."

Ash nodded in acknowledgement, and looked around at the participants. He was surprised to see May among the Coordinators, and from the looks of it, she took Drew with her to the party, though she looked particularly unhappy that she had to go with him.

Before he could dwell on it further, however, the lights turned dark, and three spotlights landed on the three judges with their dates for tonight. Wallace was revealed to have taken Winona and Fantina had taken Wattson. In the middle was Pakura with Lance.

"Ladies and gentlemen." Aetna came out, holding an unknown man's hand. "Thank you all for coming tonight. Let us introduce the stars of the party, the judges of the Interregional Contest, Champion Wallace, Leader Fantina, and Elite Pakura, who will be doing the opening dance."

Pakura stepped out, and spoke for the other two. "Hello everyone." Pakura greeted in an elegant manner, causing everyone to swoon at her demeanour. Some girls were even blushing at her mannerism. After she greeted everyone, the three pairs came down the staircase, and started the opening dance. Everyone was mesmerized as they started dancing together, and some were even jealous.

"Appealing as always, isn't she?" Cynthia went up to him, and nodding towards Pakura and Lance.

"Yeah." Ash agreed, just as the dance ended, and the six of them bowed to the audience, who clapped.

"Now, it is free time, please enjoy yourself!" Aetna announced. Ash was about to go for the food, but Cynthia dragged him onto the dance floor.

"It's rude not to pay attention to a lady in a party, especially when she's your date." Cynthia winked. Ash inwardly groaned, but complied with Cynthia, and began twirling her on the dance floor, as the DJ started a music that is slow and dreamlike.

The others also slow-danced to the song, which was revealed to be "Crazy for you". To Ash, slow dancing is strange. It isn't even dancing really. It's more like standing there with his arms around the other person, moving from one foot to the other in time to the music.

After the song, however, the music changed to "La Isla Bonita", where some of them rumbaed to, which allowed Ash to go for the food table, where it was laden with every food and drinks imaginable. He grabbed the nearest dish, which happened to be Beef Rouladen, and ate as the others started chatting about the entertainment and the good time they had with the others in the morning when the air conditioner broke down.

Ash saw Karen laughing at something Jude had said, and went up to him as Karen left to get some more food to fill her plate.

"Entertaining your new girlfriend?" Ash asked Jude.

Jude shot him a look. "I'm not sure what I feel about Karen, actually. Honestly, she is an interesting person. Other girls her age, such as my late ex, like to talk about things such as clothes, makeup, shopping, or other girls, or about boys. Not her, though. She talks about other topics such as the current events in her region, or what she learnt from her own experiences that allowed her to be the final Elite member in the Johto region. Quite a nice change, if you ask me."

"I doubt the girls in our Elite talk about those stuff." Ash frowned.

"Not Paku." Jude pointed out. "Rosaline, yes, she talks about it most of the time. It's just that she couldn't talk to us about it because the only other girl is Pakura and she hates that type of stuff. Besides, she dislikes Rosaline, and won't bother to talk to her outside of Elite business."

"So you're saying Karen is different." Ash said dryly.

"Well, it's nice to talk to a girl who doesn't have shopping in their minds all the time….or training and work for that matter." Jude shrugged, as he sipped his fruit punch. "She does make a good conversationalist, but I am not sure if I want to build a relationship with her."

"Like I said, you should follow your heart, Jude. If Paku can give Lance a chance, I don't see why you can't." Ash smiled, as he turned his head. "Well, Karen is coming. But remember, if you take her as your girlfriend, she would have a right to know what she's getting herself into, and about the other Elite members." Ash gave him a knowing nod, and left to get a drink, just as Karen returned with a plate of food for both herself and for Jude.

"Thanks, Karen. I'm getting a little hungry." Jude turned to Karen.

"What were you two talking about?" Karen asked.

Jude hesitated, before saying, "I'll tell you later. For tonight, we should relax and let our hair down."

Karen nodded, as they started chatting about the entertainment, and what type of music they liked.

* * *

"And now for the main event." Aetna announced, after the rotation dance was over, sparing a glance at Marina, who was lamenting over the fact that she was about to take Lance's hand to dance when the music was over, and she was current comforted by her friend Jimmy. "Top Coordinator Zoey and Coordinator Pakura would now fight head-to-head to see who the better Coordinator is. With their past achievements known, it could be anyone's battle! Coordinators Zoey and Pakura, please, step out onto the battlefield."

"Looks like it's time for me to get out there." Pakura handed her half full plate to Lance. "Don't you dare eat any of the things on my plate. While you're at it, get some more chicken dumplings and meatloaf for me." Lance sighed but nodded, and went off to get the chicken dumplings she requested, while Pakura walked out onto the battlefield with Zoey.

As the two faced each other, a screen located at the stage appeared with the pictures of them and the point system.

"Coordinators, please send out your Pokémon!" Aetna commanded.

"Leafeon, Gallade, once again, it's curtain, go!" Zoey threw her Pokéballs and one opened with a barrage of yellow flower petals while another released green bolts of electricity, and they combined to form yellow flower petals that glowed a bright green and looked electrifying, before dispersing to reveal Leafeon and Gallade.

"Flareon, Gardevoir, time to shine!" Pakura threw her Pokéballs in the air, and one opened with a lot of orange flames, and another released a large pink heart that floated up. When the seals combined, the heart looked like it was on fire, before dispersing to reveal Flareon and Gardevoir, who took battle stance.

"She does have the type advantage." Cynthia whispered.

"She's technically giving Zoey a chance. That Flareon was a Pokémon she just took in." Ash whispered back. "It might not compete with the years of friendship Zoey and her Pokémon had." Ash just knew Pakura did plan to use the Pokémon beforehand, and didn't actually know what Pokémon Zoey would use.

"You may have the first move." Pakura offered.

"Don't mind if I do." Zoey replied. "Leafeon, use Energy Ball! Gallade, use Signal Beam!"

"Here they come." Pakura said to her two Pokémon. "Intercept with Psychic before they can fuse, and deflect it back with Will-O-Wisp."

Gardevoir used Psychic to stop the attacks completely, while Flareon fired a Will-O-Wisp, which fused with the Signal Beam, causing the attack to look like a flaming cosmic rainbow. Gardevoir made use of her Psychic to power up the move, and hit both Pokémon before they can react. Just by intercepting the combination and using it to her advantage, as well as hitting Zoey's Pokémon, Zoey lost a quarter of her points.

"How did the Pokémon know which command is theirs?" Zoey whispered. "She didn't even say who is to use what."

"If you don't attack I will. Flareon, use Dig." Flareon burrowed her way into the ground.

"Gallade, fire Toxic into the hole!" Zoey commanded. "After that, throw Leafeon up!"

"Reflect." The Reflect covered the hole, preventing Toxic from getting into the hole and poisoning Flareon. Gardevoir, at Pakura's command, fired a Moonblast, followed by a Signal Beam, which looked like a very colourful meteorite from space at Gallade. Gallade stumbled back as he was hit. Another one-eighth of Zoey's points was lost as the attack hit its mark.

"Gardevoir, make use of the distraction to cover Flareon." Pakura nodded towards the holes Flareon was currently making. Gardevoir nodded, and started to cover every single one of the holes with Reflect.

"I got you now. Leafeon, attack Gardevoir with Leaf Blade!"

'So she made use of Gardevoir's distraction to attack with her Leafeon. Clever, but she underestimated the reaction time Gardevoir had.' Pakura thought.

"Gardevoir, sixty-seven degrees north-east direction." Pakura said.

"Gallade!" Zoey called out. Gallade got in front of Gardevoir, ready to attack at Zoey's command. "Close…"

"You left me no choice. Dazzling Gleam." Gardevoir nodded, and retaliated with the move, which hit both Gallade and Leafeon.

Zoey was shocked as it looked like calling Gallade to go near Gardevoir was a bad idea, as Pakura can react immediately. Zoey checked the point meter. They were left with two minutes and Pakura had yet to lose a single point, while she had only less than half her original points.

"This battle isn't over." Zoey knew that she would lose, but she couldn't give up now.

"I'm afraid it is going to end soon." Pakura replied. "Now, Gardevoir." Gardevoir removed Reflect, and jumped into one of the many holes made by Flareon, and covered it up again with Reflect.

"Leafeon, Iron Tail on the ground!" Zoey commanded.

"Now." Pakura called out. The Reflects were removed, and from all the holes came out many Shadow Balls and Moonblasts, which Leafeon narrowly dodged. It went up high in the air.

"Gallade, use Night Slash to counter the Shadow Balls and Moonblasts. Leafeon, help out with Leaf Blade!" Zoey commanded.

"That was what I wanted. Flareon, Flamethrower."

"Change of plans. Safeguard!" Gallade covered both Leafeon and himself with Safeguard, and the Flamethrower bounced off harmlessly, causing Pakura to lose points for her attack to be intercepted.

At the same time, Gardevoir used Psychic to throw both Gallade and Leafeon up, and fired the pink hearts glowing with a rainbow flame up towards them. At the same time, the Shadow Balls and Moonblasts were falling towards them, causing a colourful explosion of fireworks when the attacks hit Gallade and Leafeon. Gardevoir and Flareon stood there, waiting for the results of their attack.

"Lance was right. She does produce beautiful attacks with her Pokémon." Karen admired.

Gallade and Leafeon fell to the floor in exhaustion with swirls in their eyes, knocked out by the super-effective attacks. The timer stopped at 00:56, indicating the battle was one minute from the end. Zoey's points were less than a quarter while Pakura still had almost all her points left.

"Gallade and Leafeon are unable to battle. Which means, the winners are Pakura and her team of Flareon and Gardevoir!" The Coordinators and their dates cheered and clapped at the spectacular battle.

"Good job, both of you. Especially you, Flareon." She patted Flareon, and Flareon nuzzled her hand.

"You are a really powerful opponent." Zoey walked up to her. "I can see why they call you a legend."

"You were great, your strategies would have worked with everyone else, even Wallace." Pakura replied, as she shook hands with Zoey. "However, this Flareon is one I just got, and is very shy because of her past, hence why I got her to use Dig constantly, so she can hide from the audience. After all a true Coordinator is one who can improvise a strategy on the spot and accommodate to all their Pokémon. It's the Pokémon that allows them to be in the Pokémon Contests in the first place."

'She created her strategies revolving around a negative trait. She turned it into something positive. Amazing.' Zoey thought. "I'll work hard so I will be able to surpass you."

"Bring it on." Pakura raised her brow, before going to Lance to retrieve her plate of food.

"And let's give both Coordinators a round of applause, once more!" Aetna announced, as everyone cheered and clapped for the two girls waving to the audience. Well, except for a certain bandana-wearing brown haired Coordinator.

Pakura suddenly felt dizzy and a familiar presence inside her mind. How did Shiki get into her head if he was dead? She saw an image from someone's point of view, repeatedly shooting an orange-haired prisoner with the gun on their hand. Another girl tried to stop this person, but she was shot as well.

"Shiki…..he's being…." Pakura started. Only Lance, who was next to her, could hear her.

"Shiki's what?" Lance looked at her, concerned, only to be horrified when she fell backwards and would have collapsed if Lance hadn't caught her. "Paku!" He shouted, catching everyone's attention.

"Pakura!" "Princess!" Most of the people in the room shouted in horror when they saw she had fainted.

All the Elites and their dates ran over to the pair.

"What happened?" asked Cynthia. Everyone shook their heads, indicating they don't know what's wrong.

"Let me try to find out." Rosaline announced, but as she reached out to her, Pakura's hand grabbed her. Rosaline looked puzzled, and was about to say something, but her eyes rolled back, and she too, collapsed.

"Rosa!" Grimsley widened his eyes. "What was that?"

"I think Paku has somehow created a defense against her body so should she fall unconscious, no one can extract information from her." Ash shook his head. "Send them back to their rooms, now."

Lance picked Pakura up bridal style, and carried her out of the gym. Grimsley followed suit by carrying Rosaline.

'Looks like I was wrong about this being a quiet evening.' Ash thought.

* * *

"Alright, once we get that spirit medium Amara into the prison with Misty and Iris, Iris will tell her to channel the Dragon Prince, and he would be able to get her out. And then we carry out the plan to make use of him against Pakura." Brock whispered. They had visited the Ariolo Village and a spirit medium named Amara agreed to lend her channelling services to them. They chose to do it late at night as that is when everyone would let some of their guards down.

It turned out they can also choose the place where the channelling would occur, which made them take advantage of the fact to bring the channelling to the PAL Jail where Misty was confined.

"And even if Shiki refuses to cooperate, we can use the gun we slipped through the bars of Misty's window with Brock's Chansey's Psychic, which Misty is in possession now." Trip smirked. "So she is prepared to fight with everything she has."

"Too bad my sister can't come because she wanted to attend the party." Max sighed.

"Oh well, she deserves to enjoy herself, though. We will take down the Dragon Princess with his help once this channelling is successful and over. She'd be brought down to a whore for sure." Iris declared.

"Specifically, our whore." Trip drooled at the thought, as though they all hated her, they can't help but admire her divine figure. Pakura was the physical embodiment and epitome of a goddess, with every inch of her body perfect and exquisite, her beauty almost supernatural. It was too bad she worked for the other side, otherwise she would be the perfect girlfriend. Well, that would change soon enough.

Just then, they were silenced as three girls came into the room. The girl in front was holding a bunch of flowers and at the girl bringing up the rear was holding what looked like a mystical object, which the traitors assumed that it was part of the channelling. In the middle was Amara with her headdress and pure white robe.

The three stopped, and everyone stood up to bow to the three girls as they bowed back. Iris and Amara silently entered Misty's prison cell, which was watched by guards. They knew Misty was alone in there, as Jessebelle was moved to another cell for the night for channelling purposes.

"During the channelling, no one sans the client and the spirit medium may enter." One of the girls explained. "Please wait patiently while the channelling is commencing."

* * *

_Pakura was dressed in her Dragon Duo outfit, her Pokéballs on hand, and was in a darkened stadium. She could hear the cheers and roars of the audience, half on her side, and half on the opponent's. She was standing on one side, with her Mega Altaria as her third Pokémon._

_On the other side? A shadow stood there his Mega Charizard X determined to defeat her. The spotlight turned on to reveal that her opponent was none other than Shiki, the Dragon Prince as well as her fiancé. But Pakura wouldn't let him. She has to win, to prove that she is a good Dragon Princess. _

_Mega Charizard X flew up, launching a Fire Blast at Mega Altaria. Mega Altaria protected herself with Safeguard, before retaliating with a Moonblast. Mega Charizard X stumbled backwards, and Shiki looked impressed at the power of the move, but he made eye contact with Mega Charizard X, and he prepared another attack, which turned out to be Blast Burn. _

_Pakura telepathically commanded Mega Altaria to use Protect, but just as she used it, the battlefield disappeared, and she found herself in a prison cell. Two familiar people lie in a pool of blood. She looked around, only to see a familiar figure with a gun. _

"_That Dragon Village girl was pathetic, wasn't she? Couldn't accept her loss, and yet wanted a battle with me. Seems like they also wanted to use me to help this Misty girl escape." Shiki said, blowing at the smoking gun. "How did she become the hair to a Pokémon Gym is a wonder to me." _

"_It is wonder." Pakura agreed. _

"_Looks like the guys are left. They wanted to make you their whore, you know? I always knew those pretty looks of yours would attract trouble." Shiki shook his head. _

"_So what made you do that?" Pakura frowned. "They were not attacking me." _

"_They wanted me to say it was no accident. That you killed me. They were planning to use this obedience device, you know. That is why I decided to take my revenge by killing them. It's only fair, isn't it….Paku-chan?" Shiki shrugged. "I just merely got rid of a problem. The rest of the group just escaped and left them behind. They say they are friends, but they abandon each other at their time of need. Pathetic, isn't it?"_

"_Are they alive?" Pakura asked._

"_Who knows?" Shiki tilted his head. "I don't really care about that, as long as they try to harm you. Besides you have enough without Giovanni wanting you back." _

"_I know about that, but does he know who I really am?" Pakura bit her thumb. _

"_Not yet. But he'll send his minions down from tomorrow. Don't go anywhere alone." Shiki warned. _

Pakura gasped, and sat up on her bed, before narrowing her eyes in anger. How dare those people stoop so low as to make use of her dead fiancé to bring them down? She was glad the two girls were dead or at least near death. How could Iris make use of this to try and save her pride as a Dragon Master and use him to free Misty, who clearly planned the heist in the first place?

'The others have a right to know, but it can wait. I got to battle tomorrow.' With that thought, Pakura went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, in Rosaline's room, everyone was discussing their options.

"Think they'll be alright?" asked Phillip, looking at the unconscious Rosaline lying on the bed.

Ash shrugged. "I don't know. But Rosaline did make a foolish move."

"What do you mean by that?" Grimsley rounded on him.

"You idiot, Pakura has Psychic Shields. For Rosaline to even use her psychic powers, knowing full well she has that, it's a pretty stupid move." Jude agreed. "But she was trying to help."

"But she should have thought of it before even charging in." Ash sighed. "How's Paku doing?"

Lance shook his head. "Not good. She hasn't moved a single inch since she was carried here. I wonder what happened to her. She said something about Shiki, but never got to finish her sentence."

"Anyway." said Cynthia, interrupting the conversation. "I don't think any of us should go anywhere alone from now on. Even to the bathroom, I personally think we should have a small escort of 2-3 people. Who knows what would happen if somebody sees any one of us alone."

Jasmine nodded. "Yes. We mustn't give them another opportunity to strike. We must stick close together from now on. Things are clearly getting dangerous."

"You know what? We should take shifts to watch Rosaline and Paku." Ash said.

"I agree with Ash. It's like 4am now, we should get to sleep. Besides, Ash, Cynthia and Paku would have to participate in the semi-finals tomorrow." Jude added. "I think Ash and Cynthia should be excluded from the watch, considering they are the participants. Rest of us would watch either Rosaline or Pakura."

"Best idea you have tonight, Jude." Phillip nodded. "Alright, I'll take first watch of Pakura. Someone else watch Rosaline."

"I will." Jasmine volunteered.

Karen was frowning at the turn of events, and what she knew from this morning. Could that mean that Pakura is actually not entirely sane, most likely from the events of her life before she entered the Pokémon World Championship.

'How could the world be so cruel to one person?' Karen thought, but was interrupted when Ash said, "I think we better get some sleep. We still have things to do tomorrow."

Everyone nodded, and retreated to their respective rooms, some going to the elevator.

* * *

The next day (or rather, a few hours later), it was discovered that Rosaline developed a high fever that would not go down. She has been fading in and out of consciousness, and her fever was so bad, she had to stay in bed.

They would have gotten Pakura to heal her, but Pakura was nowhere to be found and Ash knew that she was probably battling Wallace at the moment, as they themselves have overslept. Also, since she hated Rosaline, it was unlikely she would heal her anyway.

Grimsley volunteered to stay behind to take care of her, while the rest went for their matches, as Ash's match with Cynthia was next. The group arrived in time to watch Pakura's Espeon fire a Shadow Ball at Wallace's Whiscash.

"Wishcash!" Wallace shouted in concern, but Whiscash was knocked out.

"Whiscash is unable to battle!" Evan announced. "Espeon wins!"

"Wallace's Whiscash has fallen as well!" Kenneth commented. Looking at the scoreboard, Pakura only revealed two Pokémon- Her Espeon and Klefki. Klefki was already out of the battle, while Espeon was currently in the battlefield.

"And it looks like Champion Wallace is down to his last, while Pakura still has five Pokémon left! "Champion Wallace has his back in a corner!"

'If we win this, I'll be in the Final Round.' Pakura thought.

"Milotic, on stage!" Wallace's final Pokémon turned out to be Milotic.

"Espeon, you ready?" Pakura decided to stick to Espeon.

"**Always have." **Espeon wagged his tail.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Milotic, use Rain Dance, followed by Scald!" Wallace commanded.

'Use Sunny Day, followed by Psybeam.' The Rain Dance was overwritten by Sunny Day just as Milotic was about to fire Scald, allowing Espeon to meet the attack with a Psybeam.

'Now, use Grass Knot.' Espeon's eyes glowed green, and two blades of grass near the Milotic glow green and tie themselves into a knot, causing Milotic to trip over it.

"Milotic, Blizzard!" Milotic fired a cold blizzard towards Espeon.

'Dodge and throw Milotic with Psychic.' Espeon jumped in the air to avoid the attack, and threw Milotic to the sky with a powerful Psychic.

"What?" Wallace was surprised.

'Iron Tail.' Pakura inwardly ordered. Espeon aimed the Iron Tail on Milotic's head, and hit her, causing it to plunge towards the ground. 'Now, Future Sight.'

"Milotic, Dragon Tail!" Wallace commanded.

'Meet it with Iron Tail again.' Pakura thought. As both of them fell towards the ground, they clashed with their respective moves.

"And neither one is giving an inch! It's an action packed duel!" Kenneth commented. As both of them reached the ground, the Future Sight suddenly struck Milotic with electrified psychic energy, and exploded. When the smoke cleared, it was revealed Milotic was down with swirls in its eyes.

"Milotic is unable to battle! Therefore, the winner is Elite Pakura!" Evan announced.

"It's settled! The one who advances to the Finals is Pakura!" Kenneth commented.

"Well done, Espeon." Pakura returned her Espeon, and went to the middle to shake hands with Wallace.

"You're not only a legend at Coordinating, you're a legend at battling too." Wallace smiled.

"Thank you." Pakura replied. "You're not too bad yourself."

As she left the battlefield, however, she decided to make a little visit to the hospital

* * *

"It's finally time for my battle with Cynthia." Ash was in the Launch Room, waiting for the time for him to step onto the platform. "Many things have happened, but finally, the semi-finals is commencing. If I win this, I can face off against Paku in the Final Round. I want to battle her again. She was one of my strongest opponents."

"**Go for it, Ash!" **Pikachu cheered. **"We'll be with you all the way!"**

"**Yeah, Ash, go for it. You have their support now." **Lucario encouraged.

"Thanks, guys. For believing in me." Ash smiled, just as he heard that it was time for launch. Ash stepped into the platform, and let himself be lifted into the battlefield. As soon as he was out, he realized something odd. The traitors were not among the audience. Usually, they would like to sit in front to watch the battles, but they were not even here today. What is going on here?

He didn't have time to dwell as Cynthia said, "Come on Red, let's make this battle a meaningful one. I want you to go all out."

"And you too." Ash smiled at her. "Don't hold back."

"Champions, please send out your first Pokémon." Evan ordered.

"Ok, Hydregion, battle dance!" Cynthia chose Hydregion as her first Pokémon.

"Garchomp, lend me your aura!" Ash chose the final evolution of Gible to open the battle.

"It's a battle of Dragon Pokémon! We would never be able to take our eyes off this!" Kenneth remarked, as everyone cheered.

"Let the battle begin!" Evan announced.

**BP: Ok, so the traitors went too far by trying to channel the dead, specifically the one person Pakura held in her heart- Shiki. Trying to get Shiki to betray her is as bad as trying to kidnap someone and torture them for fun or something. **

**Which was why Shiki, making use of the spirit medium's body, took the gun from them with telekinesis and shot them himself, but only Iris and Misty was affected. The rest are fine, but they are obviously visiting them in the hospital or attending their funeral. I haven't decided which. **

**So do you want Iris and Misty to:**

**A: Survive Shiki's shooting. **

**B: Didn't survive.**

**Note that this is important for the next chapter, so choose wisely!**

**On another note, for the Ashura Kurobane fic, his (adopted) mother is Amethyst Paradinight (aka Pakura Ameyuri in the PAL series), so for those who want her as his travelling companion (and RoyalShipping to an extent), I really have no idea how am I supposed to go about doing that when they are one and the same. **

**But, I have an offer for you readers: Amethyst Paradinight and Pakura Ameyuri, while they have similar yet different pasts and somewhat resembled each other, they would be two completely different people. Do you accept the offer?**

**A: Yes! I accept. I want her as Ash's only travelling companion, and RoyalShipping forever!**

**B: No, Ash should just travel alone. And RoyalShipping is too overrated. **

**Think carefully on the offer before you decide. **

**I don't actually know in this story if Pakura is going to return as a Defense Attorney but one thing is for sure she will take back her firm since it's something she and Shiki had built together, so naturally she'll want anything that had belonged to Shiki, since he was her first love. **

**You see, I know I haven't updated my Deviantart for a while, but trust me, I am hard at work answering the questions and even making some new pictures for the Fanfiction Project. I would have to push back the Resurrection fic, as Rosaline was inside, and it always reminded me of the fact that it isn't my OC, it belonged to mysterypink98, and I just couldn't write it, you know, so fear not, it will still be written, but I will have to publish it much later. **

**Since I promised to write it alongside the Ashura Kurobane series and the Heartsong Symphony, I decided to replace the fic with another Pokémon fanfic where the PAL Region had to host the Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom Tournament. **

**I got this inspiration when I saw the trailer of Phoenix Wright, one of my favourite characters in Ace Attorney as a fighter in the game, and thought "Hey, why not have a normal lawyer to save the world, with Ash as his mentor as he had did it before?" And since there are so many characters to write about with different abilities and personalities, I thought it would be fun to write. **

**But of course, since it's a Pokémon fanfic, I'd probably add a story for them as well, probably having just replaced an Elite member and also the reluctance since they had just finished hosting the Pokémon World Championships and the Battle Olympia, a biennial fighting tournament held in the PAL Region, which would be elaborated upon in the story. **

**I am going to make Phoenix Wright (I love him as a fighter, especially his Turnabout Mode) as the main three-man team alongside another two.**

**If you guys like, you can choose who his teammates should be (preferably one from Capcom and one from Marvel), and put them in the reviews (I can't decide who the other two should be). I would have to read up on their backgrounds before writing them, so do vote on that too! **

**Oh yes, and Core AI will be Beta Reading my chapters from next chapter onwards, so do look forward to that as well! **

**Do remember to review, favourite and follow (I know this chapter might be bad, since I hit a writer's block while writing this) **

**Most important of all, don't forget to put in suggestions and vote for the questions above so I can have ideas and continue writing! And check out the first chapter of Pokémon: Heartsong Symphony, which was posted today.**

**And do remember to tell me who you want in the team with Phoenix Wright!**


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